


Remember My Face

by Chajingjing



Category: VIXX
Genre: Eunho needs a friend so I'm giving him one T.T, Gen, M/M, Mostly platonic relationship, Some fluff-- some angst, Spoilers for Children of Nobody, TW for mentions of abuse, Their dynamic would just be too cute..., crossover fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-04 13:25:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17305409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chajingjing/pseuds/Chajingjing
Summary: It's just another day at the bank for Kim Hwan, until a regular customer from Hanul Children's Center leaves behind an odd account ledger. Reluctantly, he takes the trip to return it and meets someone he can't forget.(Note: Semi canon/a rewrite of CoN ending <3)





	1. Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys-- I just couldn't help but start writing this, especially after Eunho mentioned he took care of the Director's banking matters/visits. It's TOO PERFECT. Anyway, I had this planned for a while actually but wanted to see the rest of Eunho's story before writing him. I plan to keep things mostly fluffy, but I'm sure a bit of angst will creep in towards the end.
> 
> As usual, it's a bit of an odd pair but I hope you enjoy!

 

**Lost and Found**

 

 

Kim Hwan tended to remember accounts rather than faces. The account that was full of overdraft charges, the account with constant foreign transaction alerts-- and of course that _one_ account with large, erratic deposits and withdrawls.

 

This one, right here.

 

He sighed as he recounted a couple million won for the third time, eyes watching each bill as they slid through his fingers. Once he was done he looked up at the young man standing demurely across the counter from him, head down, eyes forward. Hadn’t he just come in with this much last week? Where was it all going? Clearly he wasn’t spending it on himself, Hwan mused, taking in his well-worn grey jacket and cracked, rough hands.

“I need to get this signed off on,” he said, annoyed. Really, Byeon had promised him he’d raise his limits _ages_ ago. Having him check every cash transaction he did over 2 million was getting old.

 

“Okay,” the man replied, so softly Hwan almost didn’t hear it. Hwan nodded and stalked around the copier towards his supervisor’s desk.

 

 

“Here.”

 

He shoved the cash and deposit slip onto Team Leader Byeon’s desk. The older man put down his pen and started recounting the transaction.

 

“You know if you just--”

 

“Later, Hwan.”

 

“But you _said--_ ”

 

Byeon stopped counting, and looked up.

 

“LATER, Hwan.”

 

 

Hwan frowned, but complied. It was never a good idea to argue with the man when he was in one of _these moods._ Finally, Byeon finished, initialed the deposit slip, and handed the transaction back to Hwan’s waiting hands, waving him off as he left. Shoulders down, Hwan headed back towards his station just as a small commotion broke out in front of him.

 

“Aren’t you _done_ yet?! What’s taking so long--?”

 

He looked up to see a face that he did recognize, for all the wrong reasons, trying to shove past the quiet customer he was already helping. The older man grabbed the younger’s grey jacket at the elbow, trying to move him out of the way, but he twisted immediately, frantically, as he jerked his whole body backwards into Hwan’s teller counter. The smile pile of documents he’d carefully stacked in front of him came spilling down into Hwan’s station.

 

“Hey--” Hwan protested, scrambling forward to pick up the documents spilling across his keyboard. “Take a _number and get in line._ ”

 

By the time he rose his head again, security had already descended upon the aggressor, firmly escorting him back towards the door. Hwan rolled his eyes as he finished gathering up his customer’s documents, haphazardly placing them back on the counter. The old man was nice enough sober, but a mean drunk, and if not for his sizeable account surely would have been permanently banned from the premise years ago.

 

 

“I’m sorry about that, sir, we'll take care of--”

 

 

He stopped, taken aback by the expression on his original customer's face. His eyes were wide, shifting back and forth as he quickly shoved the documents back into the folder he’d brought them in, hands shaking.

Unsure of what to say, Hwan sat down and quickly finished his deposit. As he handed the man his receipt he all but ripped it from his hands and turned, mumbling a brief ‘thanks’ as he made a beeline for the front door.

It wasn’t until after his shift was over, as he was searching for the currency exchange report he’d borrowed from Jonghoo, that Hwan noticed the small bank ledger wedged alongside his computer monitor. Frowning, he pried it loose and looked down at the name engraved on the front.

 

 _Hanul Children’s Center_.

  
  
  
* * *

 

“Why do _I_  have to return it?”

 

Team Leader Byeon ignored Hwan as he stirred sweetener into his morning coffee.

 

“Isn’t Joohyuk going out for a consultation today? Can’t he--?”

 

“Joohyuk doesn’t have time,” Byeon interrupted, pushing past Hwan on his way out of the break room. Hwan followed, dogging at his heels.

 

“But neither do I, you asked me to check those accounts this mor--”

 

“Do it after your shift then.”

 

“What if they’re already closed? Can’t we just mail--”

 

Byeon turned around, and took the bank ledger from Hwan’s hand, holding it up in front of his face.

 

“Hwan. This is _personal account information_. We can’t ‘just mail it.’ Besides, Hanul just took out a mortgage loan with us,” he sighed, but paused, taking in Hwan’s pitiful expression.

 

 

“Fine. I’ll let you clock out early this afternoon-- but _deliver it in person_ , understood?”

 

 

Hwan’s face brightened and he nodded, taking back the ledger and heading to his station with an extra bounce in his step.

  
  
  
* * *

 

The rest of the day passed quickly, and before long Hwan had closed out, escaped an unexpected afternoon rush, and was standing in front of a large red complex. He double checked the blue letters above the building’s main entrance, and headed up front steps. Immediately, just as he opened the door a pair of ten year olds bumped into him, rushing eagerly outside. He stumbled back out of the way and frowned, clutching his messenger bag’s leather strap closer to his chest.

 

Right. This was a _children’s center._

 

Making his way inside, he winced at the sudden din of children shouting, playing, and general chaos surrounding him. Wandering forward, it wasn’t long before he found himself standing in the middle of a huge playroom, kids of all ages swarming around him.

 

 

“You’re _tall_!!” a small voice shouted behind him. Hwan turned around.

 

“What’s your name?”

 

He hissed, trying to shoo the young girl away, but a remote-controlled fire truck bumped into his heels and before long he was surrounded.

 

 

“What’s in your bag--?”

 

“Why is your hair so curly--?”

 

“How old are you? I’m _seven_!!”

 

Hwan tried to turn again and stepped backwards, but bumped into a pair of twins behind him. As they both fell to the floor there was one, long, agonizing moment of silence before-- simultaneously--

 

 

They both started bawling.

 

 

Hwan paled. Oh-- oh _no._

 

He looked around, panicking, when thankfully, seeming out of nowhere two strong arms reached forward, picking the boys up and steadying them once more on their feet. Hwan recognized immediately his quiet customer from the bank. He watched as the man brushed the tears from their cheeks, shushing them gently and readjusting their small, matching blue jackets. Then, after they’d settled down, he pulled two small candies from his own jacket pocket and pressed one into each of their hands. Smiling, he pushed them back towards the rest of the play area, and slowly the crowd around Hwan dispersed.

Hwan opened his mouth, but said nothing-- somewhat embarrassed. As the man stood to face him, his eyes spotted the KCU ID still hanging around his neck. His smile faded and his eyes snapped upwards.

 

 

“You’re from the bank.”

 

 

Hwan nodded slowly, confused again by his sudden change in attitude.

 

“Is… is there a problem with the account?” he continued in a soft voice, still as a statue.

 

“No, I'm _Kim Hwan_. I just came to return something you left when, ah... “

 

“Oh,” the man relaxed. Then, he seemed to register Hwan’s meaning. “The ledger. Come with me.”

 

 

Following behind him as he led them both out of the playroom and through the center’s back hallways towards what he assumed was the Director’s office, Hwan was surprised when instead he was led into a small security office. A CCTV monitoring station was set up in one corner, while another was filled with various tools, lightbulbs, and cleaning supplies.

 

“Lee Eunho,” he read aloud the name written upon a security checklist hanging by the door, and his guide looked up.

 

“Lee Eunho?” Hwan said again, this time turning around. The man nodded. Hwan smiled, glad to finally have his name.

 

“You handle the Director’s finances from _here_?”

 

Eunho headed over to the security desk and began rifling through a stack of papers next to his second monitor.

 

“I’ve known Director Song a long time. I help him out with many of his personal matters.”

 

“Personal? Oh-- I thought--”

 

“Yes, it’s a personal account,” Eunho spoke quickly over him, turning back around with a folded piece of paper in his hands. “Here.”

 

Hwan looked at the piece of paper and then back at Eunho.

 

“What?”

 

“I think you accidentally mixed this in with my other.. documents,” he said, bowing his head. “I’m sorry.”

 

Hwan took the piece of paper and unfolded it. Oh--  the currency exchange report. That’s where it had gone? He rolled his eyes and unbuckled his messenger bag, stuffing the paper inside.

 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s useless now,” he sighed.

 

Eunho nodded once, but stood still in the middle of the small room, hands clasped together in front of him. Hwan blinked, staring back at him for a moment before he remembered--

 

“Oh, your ledger,” he said, opening his bag again and digging the small pocket-sized checkbook out. Eunho bowed again as he accepted it, gripping the pad tightly in his hands.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Hwan shrugged, and started to turn towards the office door, but paused. He hadn’t planned on saying anything, but...

 

“Listen. That guy the other day is a jerk,” he complained, unsure if strictly to Eunho, himself, or both. “I don’t even know why we still let him in the building.”

 

Eunho looked up.

 

“He always ends up at _my_ station too. And I shouldn’t even have to get these types of transactions signed off on by now if Byeon would just _get over it_ . It was _one time_ …”

 

He continued whining for a few more moments, until he noticed the small smile at the corner of Eunho’s lips. Then, embarrassed once again, he rose his chin and straightened his shoulders.

 

 

“Anyway, it was his fault, not yours.”

 

 

Eunho tilted is head, expression unreadable.

 

“It’s okay. Do you need help finding your way out?”

 

Hwan frowned at the short reply, but simmered down and thought for a moment. In the end, he decided not to chance ending up in the children’s playroom again.

 

 

Walking behind the man as they backtracked towards the center’s entrance, he watched Eunho’s calm, precise steps. They seemed heavy in a way he couldn’t quite explain; a contrast with the light smile that spread across his face as they passed a group of children on their way to a classroom. When Eunho gave him a final bow in farewell just outside of the building’s glass doors, he nodded politely in return but looked back over his shoulder as he left.

Normally, Hwan had to admit, he found most people boring. Normally, he'd simply go home, sink into his couch and forget this ever happened. But there was something about Lee Eunho that kept him on his mind until well into the night.

 

 

.


	2. Help Me Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan needs a favor, but Eunho is happy to help him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the positive comments on this.. I really can't say how much I appreciate it. <3

 

**Help Me Out**

 

 

“Is it mandatory?” Joohyuk asked, slumped back in his seat, and Hwan snapped his attention back to Manager Cha.

 

“Yes,” the older man sighed, and the entire room groaned.

“The regional office says we aren’t present enough in the community. So we’re all going to take on a volunteering project. You can pair up, find your own, or we can organize one... together?” he smiled hopefully, but the dissent around him only grew louder.

 

Hwan looked down at the fliers in front of him as his coworkers continued to complain. Highway pickup? Nursing home care? _The public library_?? He tried to decide which would be the least painful, but they all seemed an equally unbearable way to spend three Saturday afternoons.

 

“Alright then, let’s get to work,” Manager Cha finished, standing up and herding the rest of the room out towards the bank’s main floor. “We open in five minutes-- smiles everyone!! _Smiles_!!”

 

With a sigh, Hwan made his way towards his teller station and dropped the fliers into his desk drawer. He’d have plenty of time to consider this later.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Later, as midday approached and the morning rush was starting to dwindle, Hwan clamped a hand over his growling stomach. He looked up, craning his neck to survey the rest of the floor behind him. Hyangsook and Hyejung were still taking care of customers at the front line, and Jonghoo seemed to be knee deep in paperwork from the consultation he’d gone on last week. Joohyuk was nowhere to be found, but-- that wasn’t exactly a surprise.

As if on cue, Byeon stood up and looked between him and Jonghoo.

 

“Who’s going to lunch first?” he asked, hands on his hips. Hwan immediately shot his hand up.

 

 

“I’ll go--”

 

 

“Yeah, I’ll wait for Joohyuk to get back,” Jonghoo said over his shoulder, reluctant to interrupt his progress. Byeon shrugged and motioned for Hwan to go ahead with a flick of his wrist.

 

“Alright Hwan, go ahead. But be back _on time_.”

 

Hwan grinned victoriously and grabbed his wallet, phone, and fleece jacket before sliding out of his seat and out towards the lobby. Walking out into the winter sun he shoved his hands into his pockets and headed towards his favorite coffee stand.

 

 

Twenty-five minutes later, near empty paper cup and leftover pastry in hand, he was making his way back down the sidewalk when he spotted a familiar figure in a navy blue windbreaker sitting on one of the benches just outside KCU’s glass doors. He was holding a folded receipt in his hands, watching a boy and his younger sister play in the park across the street, a peaceful smile on his lips. Momentarily forgetting the time, Hwan perked up.

 

“Lee Eunho--!!”

 

Eunho’s smile faltered and he tensed, standing immediately.

 

“Kim Hwan,” he said in surprise, relaxing after recognizing Hwan’s bright eyes and lowering his own as he bowed his head in greeting. Hwan took a step back, but returned the gesture in a stilted motion, caught off guard by his formality. He looked the man up and down, but when Eunho’s head finally rose again his smile had returned.

They stood facing each other for a moment, before Hwan pointed at the receipt in his hand.

 

“Wasting some time on your way back?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his coffee. Eunho avoided the question and looked back across the street.

 

“It’s nice out today.”

 

“It’s _cold_ ,” Hwan countered. Eunho looked back at Hwan and his smile widened as the man pouted into his empty cup.

 

“I should get back to the center,” he said softly.

 

Hwan’s head jerked back up. That was it-- _Hanul Center_. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier?

 

 

“ _Wait!!_ ”

 

 

He reached forward to grab Eunho’s arm, but stopped his hand at the last minute, fingertips only brushing lightly against the man’s blue coat. Eunho froze, eyes lingering on the space between them.

 

“Hanul Center-- do they take volunteers?”

 

Eunho looked up.

“You… want to volunteer?”

 

“No-- I mean _yes._ I need to do some ‘community service,’” he answered, withdrawing his hand but stepping forward.

 

“Oh,” Eunho thought for a moment. “The center… we could always use an extra set of hands. I’ll check with the Director.”

 

Hwan smiled, satisfied with the temporary agreement. He stuck his index finger up, motioning for Eunho to wait a moment longer while he dug his wallet out of his pocket and pulled a business card out. Patting down the rest of his jacket’s pockets and moving to his grey slacks, he frowned.

 

“Do you have a...?”

 

Eunho padded his own jacket down, until his hands paused against his windbreaker’s inner breast pocket. He nodded silently as he pulled a simple ballpoint pen out and handed it over. Hwan scribbled eleven digits onto the back of the card, and then held both the card and pen forward.

Looking back up, Eunho cautiously took both.

 

“That’s my number, let me know,” Hwan said. He looked behind him at KCU’s waiting doors and winced. “Just-- let me know,” he finished, before dashing inside.

 

Eunho watched him leave, then looked down at the card in his hands. Taking special care not to bend it, he placed the it into his jacket’s front pocket and walked away.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Hwan was stumbling into his upscale Gangnam apartment that Friday night after one of Manager Cha’s company dinners when he got the message.

 

_ <<Unknown Number: The Director approved it, you can come in for paperwork tomorrow.>> _

 

Hwan dropped his work bag and shrugged his jacket from his shoulders.

Director. Paperwork--

 

_What?_

 

Fumbling with his phone on his way towards his bedroom, he managed to type out a semi-coherent response.

 

_ <<Approved wjat? Who is this?>> _

 

He slumped back onto his bed, ready to drift off, when--

 

_ <<Unknown Number: Lee Eunho. You wanted to volunteer, right?>> _

 

_Oh_ \--

Hwan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and propped himself up via his elbow, thumbs moving rapidly.

 

_ <<Yes.>> _

 

_ <<Tomorrow? What time?>> _

 

_ <<Unknown Number: 9 AM. You remember the security office?>> _

 

Trying to focus through hazy memories, Hwan vaguely remembered the small, grey room-- full of maintenance supplies. He remembered the clipboard checklist by the door-- the desk Eunho had pulled his outdated currency report from--

 

_ <<Yeah. I’ll be there.>> _

 

He laid back then, dropping his phone next to him on the bed as he drifted off.

  
  
  
* * *

 

The next morning he woke up, tossing about in his sheets and throwing his stuffed brown miniso bear plush to the side. _What_ was that noise? Today was Saturday. Today was the day that--

 

Right. _The center._

Hwan opened his eyes and shot upright. He scrambled through the folds of his comforter before finally finding his phone and--

 

”Hello?”

 

_< <”K-Kim Hwan?”>>_ a soft voice on the other side of the line responded. _< <”Are you still--”>>_

 

”YES, yes," Hwan jumped out of bed. He fought to steady himself for a moment, free hand rubbing against his aching forehead. ”I ah-- I got delayed. I’ll--”

 

There was a pause before Eunho answered.

_ <<”You can come in this afternoon... if you like.”>> _

 

Hwan stood in the middle of his bedroom. He didn’t understand why, but there was something about the man’s friendly flexibility that made him feel... Awkward.

 

”No, no. I’m on my way.”

  
  
  
* * *

 

Later, walking into Hanul Children’s Center’s front doors in a pair of slacks and a striped button up, Hwan brushed his hand through his dark, curly hair. He expected the same frantic activity as when he’d visited before, but instead he found that as a Saturday, it had only increased. After winding down the building’s twisting hallways, he stopped in front of the security office’s door and knocked.

 

To no answer.

 

He knocked again, waited for a minute and then huffed in irritation. Sure, he was late, very late, but the man said he’d _be here._ Finally, muttering under his breath he opened the door and walked in.

The room was empty, but the light was on. Hwan continued forward, slowly letting the door slam shut behind him. He glanced around, taking in again the makeshift CCTV station and corner full of maintenance supplies. Then, he noticed a light down the small hallway around the room’s interior corner. Curious, he walked towards it and ducked through the doorway beyond into a cozy, but cluttered room. It was filled with slightly dated children’s toys, and numerous sketches littered the otherwise bare walls. Eunho was sitting in the corner, hunched over a small desk.

Hwan cleared his throat.

 

“Oh,” Eunho said, standing. “Kim Hwan.”

 

He started to bow his head and Hwan frowned. Again??

 

“Hwan. It’s just-- _call me Hwan already_.”

 

Eunho looked back up, surprised. He tugged at the sleeves of his jacket, but smiled.

 

 

“Okay.

 

Hwan.”

 

 

.


	3. I'll Stay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan's day of volunteering is full of surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much to anyone who left comments or kudos, it really means so much to me!! <3
> 
> Anyway, I've started weaving in some CoN events into the story, but my goal is to put a twist on them-- what if Eunho actually _had_ a friend who truly cared for him?? So don't worry, this story will end how I feel things would have gone in that case, not necessarily the direction the drama went.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading <3

 

**I'll Stay**

 

 

Volunteering at the children’s center wasn’t quite what Hwan had expected. Eunho, it seemed, did much more than handle security and miscellaneous tasks for Director Song. He grumbled to himself as he followed Eunho down the center’s driveway, sweeping away the snow that had started to accumulate at its edges.

“Isn’t there anything _inside_ I can do?” he whined, stopping a moment to rub his freezing hands together. He hadn’t exactly anticipated he’d be doing groundskeeping, and his lack of proper attire on such a frigid day left him cold and shivering. Eunho turned his head, watching Hwan over his shoulder. Then, balancing his broom into the crook of his elbow, took off his black work gloves and held them out in front of him.

 

“Here.”

 

Hwan looked up.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“It’s fine. You look like you need them more than me,” Eunho said with a smile, nudging his hand forward again. Hwan eyed the gloves for a moment but grabbed them, pulling the rough fabric over his fingers.

 

“I-- thank you,” he mumbled. He was well aware that he had a tendency to be... vocal in this thoughts, but he wasn’t used to someone actually paying attention to his whining. Looking back over at Eunho’s dry, calloused hands as he continued sweeping, he suddenly wished he hadn’t said anything. Sure it was cold, but it wasn’t _that_ bad...

Instead, he hunched over again, redoubling his efforts.

 

 

Just as they were finishing up about an hour later, a black SUV sped up and around towards the front of the building. Hwan watched as a man and woman hopped out, dressed in black and distinctly out of place with the rest of the center’s visitors. Eunho glanced up, but immediately back down again, turning around so his back was facing the duo as they walked inside.

Hwan frowned.

 

“Who are they?” he asked, craning his neck for a better view.

 

“Police,” Eunho murmured, busying himself with a stubborn patch of ice. Hwan’s eyes widened and he leaned in, curious. Maybe-- this place was more interesting than he’d thought.

 

“The police? _No way_. Why are they here? Did something happen?”

 

Eunho shrugged, head still hung low.

 

“A week ago. They found a body.”

 

“A body?” he leaned in closer, interest piqued. “Someone was _murdered_? Here?!”

 

Eunho shook his head.

 

“No, it was a vagrant. Asthma.”

 

“Oh,” Hwan sighed, disappointed. He looked back at the front doors one more time before turning around again.

 By the time they’d finished, Eunho’s mood had somewhat lifted again, and he grabbed Hwan’s broom as they headed back up towards the center’s outdoor maintenance closet. He looked down at his watch as the walked.

 

“Hwan. Are you hungry?”

  
  
  
* * *

 

The center’s cafeteria was small, but clean and cozy. Hwan sat, arms crossed, as he waited a few more minutes for his noodle bowl to finish resting. Across from him, Eunho smiled and waved at a mother and her two sons a few tables down.

 

“You really like it here.”

 

Eunho looked back at Hwan, and then down again at his own bowl of noodles. He nodded.

 

“Yes-- I’m fortunate.”

 

“That room in your office, you live here too?”

 

Eunho nodded again.

“The Director lets me stay here, as long as I help with security and maintenance…”

 

For a moment, Hwan tried to imagine living behind the KCU break room, and grimaced. Still, Eunho’s expression was soft and full of kindness as he continued.

 

“...I don’t mind it. I’m happy to help out the kids.”

 

“The Director...” Hwan trailed off, thinking.

 

“We’ve known each other a long time,” Eunho answered, suddenly tearing the paper lid off of his noodle bowl and stirring its contents with cheap disposable chopsticks. Hwan followed suit, stomach rumbling. They ate in relative silence, Hwan too hungry to find anything to complain about, and happy to feel a bit of warmth returning to his bones. He leaned back into his chair and sighed, content. Across the table Eunho watched him.

 

“Thanks for helping out this morning. I guess… you can leave whenever you’d like, but I’m helping supervise the playroom again this afternoon if you’d like to stay.”

 

Hwan pursed his lips. On one hand, after his previous playroom encounter it seemed like his worst nightmare, however on the other hand--

The sooner he racked up enough volunteer hours, the sooner he’d be _done_.

 

“Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll stay.”

  
  
  
* * *

 

Walking into the playroom, the children shrieked in happiness upon seeing Eunho, and Hwan recognized a few familiar faces from when he’d dropped off Eunho’s ledger, along with plenty of new ones. Eunho, however, seemed to know everyone, giving each child a pat on the head as  they hugged his legs and chattered excitedly about their day.

For some reason, shifting his weight awkwardly as he stood behind him, Hwan found himself _jealous_. The man was truly in his element. It was impressive.

 

“This is _Hwan_ ,” Eunho said after a minute, gesturing Hwan forward. All at once, twelve pairs of wide, curious eyes turned in his direction. He frowned, caught off guard as they just stood there. _Staring_. What did they want? What was he supposed to--

 

“He’s _mean_!!” one of the children Hwan recognized from last week yelled suddenly, and his mouth dropped open. He stepped forward, instinctively ready to retaliate with an insult of his own, before he caught the wide grin on Eunho’s face.

 

“That’s right-- he pushed Jiho!!” another joined in, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction, and Hwan felt his face heat up. Were they really _ganging up on him_ like this? A bunch of ten year olds?

 

“Ssh, Mr. Hwan was just surprised. Didn’t you run over his foot with your firetruck, Hajoon?” Eunho said, ruffling the boys hair again. Hajoon looked guiltily between the two adults, and Eunho continued, standing up. “Besides, I think he stopped by to apologize. RIght, Hwan?”

 

Hwan’s pout rivaled Hajoon’s-- after all it wasn’t _his_ fault the kids had swarmed him, catching him off balance. Still, he sighed, swallowed his pride and nodded.

 

 

“I’m sorry, Hajoon, Jiho,” he said, forcing a smile.

 

There was a tense moment, until--

 

 

“Do you want to play with my race cars instead?!” the child grinned excitedly, all ill will forgotten instantly. The rest of the children scattered as well, returning to play, draw, or read amongst themselves. Hwan blinked at the sudden change, but let the twins take his hand and drag him towards the set of matchbox cars they had set up on a makeshift speedway. He looked over his shoulder, but Eunho only smiled and waved him on.

As he sat down, crossing his legs, he picked up the small toy and held it awkwardly in his hands, watching Jiho and Hajoon as their active imaginations took over completely. They took off with two cars of their own, propelling them through the air, loudly supplying their own sound effects as they ran around the room. Hwan groaned-- how did they have so much energy? Turning his head again and watching Eunho crouch next to a small table full of crayons and paper, he felt another small pang of jealousy.

 

He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so carefree, so _innocent_. Eunho’s smile hadn’t faltered since he arrived. He seemed relaxed-- nothing like the quiet nervous man he’d helped at the bank. He started to understand why he didn’t mind living in such a small, cluttered room behind his own office.

 

Maybe, to him-- this _was_ home.

 

“Your hair is funny,” a voice interrupted his thoughts, and Hwan turned his head back forward, coming face to face with a young girl around eight or nine. She held a dozen small, decorative hair clips in her hands. Hwan frowned.

 

“Funny? What’s wrong with--”

 

“It needs to be _fixed_ ,” she interrupted, reaching out to grab a tiny fistfull and snapping a bright pink bow into his black curls.

 

“H-hey--!” Hwan tried to protest, but she continued, walking around him and snapping clip after clip of bright ribbons and faux flowers into his hair. Hwan slumped forward, resigning himself to the impromptu makeover. Once she was done, she stepped back and admired her work, clapping her hands together.

 

“It’s better now-- look!!” she said, running over to grab a small hand mirror from an overflowing toy box. Hwan gingerly took the mirror from her hands and slowly lifted it up to his face. His once perfectly styled curls were sticking straight up and out, in all directions. The pink, purple, and blue ribbons were bunched primarily along the crown of his head, giving him the appearance of an over-decorated Christmas tree.

Without warning, he felt himself start to smile. A _genuine_ smile this time. He couldn’t help it-- it looked ridiculous _._

 

“Thank you--” he said, grinning as he handed the mirror back, but the girl was suddenly distracted, looking over his shoulder. Hwan turned around.

The pair of detectives he’d seen earlier were walking up the ramp into the playroom. Eunho stood up, smile gone and hesitant, guarded stance returned. He looked down at his hands as the detective crossed his arms. Then he pulled at his shoulder, and Eunho stumbled after him.

 

 

Twenty minutes later, when Eunho finally returned, he simply handed Hwan a small handwritten receipt of proof for his volunteer hours.

 

“Thank you, Hwan. You can go now.”

 

Hwan took the receipt slowly, and stuffed it into his jacket pocket alongside the forgotten pair of black gloves already peeking from its corner, before reaching up to start removing the hair clips from his head.

 

“Are you sure? What happened? Is everything--”

 

“It’s okay, they just needed some security footage,” Eunho answered softly, but Hwan couldn’t shake the way that his downcast eyes and bowed head seemed to say otherwise.

 

“I’ll, um, see you next week then?”

 

 

Eunho finally looked up again.

 

 

“Next week-- you… want to come back?” he asked, eyeing Hwan’s ruined hair and the collection of clips in his hands. Hwan shrugged, dropping the accessories into Eunho’s palms as he reached out.

 

“I might as well,” he sighed, feigning indifference, but Eunho smiled and nodded.

 

“Next week then. I’ll look forward to it.”

 

 

.

 


	4. Sandcastle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan finds himself looking forward to spending more time at the children's center, and learns a bit more about Eunho.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for the comments and kudos-- It's been a bit of a rough week and I really appreciate it so much!! <3 I know my timeline here in this story might not match up with CoN's timeline 100%, so bear with me on that... Things will start to change anyway so I took some creative liberty.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I love you all!!

 

**Sandcastle**

 

 

The next morning, Hwan slept in. When he finally woke up, around noon, he groaned as he stretched his arms out above his head. His muscles were stiff. Stepping out of bed and hobbling towards his bathroom, he shook his head. After a bit of sweeping and crawling around on the playroom floor? Was he really that out of shape?

After a hot shower and quick packaged lunch, his phone buzzed at his elbow.

 

_ <<Manager Cha: Don’t forget everyone, the offer still stands for our group project this afternoon at-- >> _

 

Hwan rolled his eyes and closed the message without reading the listed details. Then he stood up and walked over towards the jacket hanging by his front door. He reached inside the right pocket, searching for the handwritten receipt Eunho had given him, when his fingers brushed against something else.

 

_The gloves_.

 

Frowning, Hwan pulled them out, and smoothed the black fabric between his fingers. He hadn’t meant to pocket them, and Eunho must not have noticed he hadn’t returned them. Walking back to his desk he picked up his phone and scrolled through his recent calls list until he found Eunho’s number. He took a moment to save it under his contacts before dialing.

No answer.

 

Hesitant to leave a voicemail, Hwan lowered the phone from his ear and hung up, tapping out a message instead.

 

_ <<Eunho, it’s Kim Hwan. I accidentally took your gloves yesterday.>> _

 

_ <<I can drop them off for you. Tell me when.>> _

 

Then, he sat back down, slid his phone onto its surface charger, and booted up his laptop.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Sunday afternoon turned to Sunday evening, and evening to Monday morning. He brought the gloves with him for his shift at the bank, but when Hwan still hadn’t heard from Eunho by closing time, he pulled his phone from his pocket and tried again-- to no luck. Still… it was only five-thirty…

He walked forward, flagging down an empty cab.

 

Thirty minutes later he slipped his driver a few extra bills for the quick service and hopped out. Running up the center’s stairs he was glad to see most of the interior lights on as a few last families straggled out for the evening. Perfect-- _just in time_. He entered Eunho’s security office after a brisk knock, however the man himself was nowhere to be found.

 

“Maybe he’s holed up in the back again,” Hwan muttered to himself, and peeked his head around the corner into the man’s room, pulling his gloves from his pocket. At the very least, he could just leave them behind with a note.

 

The tiny space was empty as well, but all the lights were on and his art supplies were strewn around his desk, as if Eunho had been interrupted mid painting. Hwan walked closer, curious. His face turned pink as the sketch came into view. It was a scene of a young girl, gleefully leaning forward to clip a lavender ribbon onto--

The sound of the office door slamming shut and footsteps rounding the corner behind him brought his head back up. Eunho walked into view, head down. He was wearing the same faded grey clothes he’d worn on Saturday. When he realized he wasn’t alone, he stopped and looked up.

Hwan held Eunho’s gloves in one hand, and grabbed the unfinished portrait with his other.

 

“Is this _me_??”

 

Eunho looked between Hwan and the painting.

 

“H-Hwan. Wh--”

 

 

“Can I _have_ it?!”

 

 

Hwan’s face was still flush, but his wide-eyed grin was contagious. Eunho relaxed. He walked forward and smiled, gently taking the paper from his hand and placing it back on his desk.

 

“It’s not finished,” he answered softly.

 

“But when it is though? Can I have it??” Hwan repeated himself, leaning over Eunho’s shoulder.

 

“Sure.”

 

Satisfied, he leaned back, and suddenly remembering the gloves in his hand held them out towards Eunho.

 

“I came to return these.”

 

“Oh…”

 

“I tried calling you a few times, but you never answered,” he continued, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Maybe I had the wrong number. Is it--”

 

“No, that’s it,” Eunho answered once Hwan started reciting his digits. “I’m sorry, I just had some business to take care of.”

 

Hwan shrugged and repocketed his phone. Taking a second look at Eunho, he had to admit: the man looked exhausted-- red eyes and unwashed, unkempt hair. Suddenly, the tiny room began to feel _too_ small. He probably shouldn’t have barged in like this. It _was_ the man’s home, of sorts, but for some reason Eunho didn’t seem particularly upset with him.

 

“I guess you have a habit of leaving things with me,” he complained with a sigh, trying to hide his embarrassment. “Next time I’ll just…”

 

“It’s okay,” Eunho answered. “Thank you, Hwan.”

 

“You should eat something, too. You look horrible.”

 

Eunho looked down at his hands again, but smiled.

 

“I will.”

  
  
  
* * *

 

The rest of the week was decently busy at the bank, and if Eunho stopped by, Hwan didn’t see him. Soon enough, Saturday morning rolled around again, and Hwan surprised himself by waking up early. Was it possible--? Was he actually looking _forward_ to spending the day at Hanul Center?

He shook his head as he walked from the bus stop up the center’s driveway.

 

“Mr. Hwan--!!” a small, albeit piercing voice caught his attention, and he looked over towards the center’s outdoor playground, immediately recognizing the young girl who’d so eagerly given him his ‘makeover.’ She was standing next to a small group gathered around a half built sand castle, coarse grains and leaves dirtying her puffy pink coat and dark leggings. Eunho stood off to the side next to a tall woman in a white coat, watching the children play. Hwan waved as he approached, and Eunho bowed his head in greeting.

 

“Mr. Hwan!” the girl repeated again, running forward to intercept him with a plastic shovel in her hand. He frowned and slowed his steps as she drew closer, realizing he’d forgotten-- if he’d ever _known_ \-- her name. Unbothered, the girl grabbed at the edge of his coat, dragging him forward. His frown only deepened as he watched her small, muddy fingers dig into the expensive fabric.

“Come meet my new friend,” she said, pulling them both to a stop in front of another girl her age, with a short bob cut and bangs. She was sitting somewhat out of the ring the other children made around their project, playing with her own small sand bucket.

 

“Hana, this is Mr. Hwan. Isn’t his hair funny? I _tried_ to fix it last time, but…”

 

Hwan tried as gently as possible to pry the girl’s sand-stained hands from his coat as she continued. ‘Hana,’ on the other hand, simply stared up at him with quiet, familiar eyes. A thought crossed his mind and he looked back at Eunho.

 

“...right?” the girl’s voice brought his attention forward again.

 

“Huh?”

 

“I _said_ , you’ll help us finish our castle, right?” she said, tugging again at his coat. Hwan sighed, trying again to wipe away the sand she left behind, but kneeled down and picked up a shovel.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Once the sand castle was finished (more or less), Hwan stood, gave his playmates a high-five, and walked over to join Eunho. His slacks were a mess and his shoes were full of sand, crunching as he walked, but he smiled as he brushed his hands clean. The woman next to Eunho finished up their conversation as he approached, and gave him a short greeting as she passed, headed over to gather up the children and take them inside. Hwan turned around and watched as she took special care to help Hana up and adjust her scarf.

 

“Who’s that?”

 

“Cha Wookyung. She’s a therapist here,” Eunho answered.

 

“What? Oh-- I meant the girl. Hana.”

 

Eunho looked at Hwan for a moment, then lowered his eyes again before answering.

 

“She’s a special case from an orphanage outside the city I help out at. Ms. Cha is fostering her.”

 

“You volunteer somewhere else too?” Hwan said, following Eunho as he started walking around the building towards the center’s groundskeeping storage shed. It was no wonder the man lived in little more than a shoebox, it seemed he dedicated almost every waking moment to the happiness and care of the children around him. But--

“ _Why_?” he asked loudly. “Don’t they have their own employees? Don’t you want to get paid for your work and move someplace nicer?”

 

“I grew up there, back when Director Song’s family owned it,” Eunho said quietly.

 

“Oh.”

 

Hwan’s feet skipped a step and he looked down at his feet. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed behind Eunho until they reached the shed. As Eunho grabbed his keys and unlocked the padlocked doors, he kicked at the gravel underneath his toes.

 

 

For two hours Hwan sulked in silence as they circled the center’s grounds, clipping away at any dead foliage, casualties of the winter’s unusually low temperatures. He didn’t know why-- the man was completely different than anyone he’d ever befriended before-- but he _liked_ Eunho. He hadn’t meant to pry or hurt his feelings. The fact that Eunho simply continued on working with that same peaceful half-smile on his face, as if he’d merely commented on the weather rather than just told Hwan he’d grown up alone in an orphanage, only made the dull sinking sensation behind his belly button grow worse.

Once they’d finished rounding the building, Hwan handed Eunho his pair of shears and stood aside as he locked up the shed. Eunho slipped his keyring back into his pocket and turned around.

 

“The cafeteria’s probably open, if you’re hungry yet.”

 

Hwan grimaced. His stomach was already in knots-- he didn’t want to fill it with another cheap noodle cup as well. However...

 

“Let’s go somewhere else for lunch.”

 

Eunho studied his face as if he hadn’t heard him correctly.

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah, let’s go someplace else,” Hwan repeated himself. “What’s good around here? Chicken? _Gimbap_? Seafood?”

 

“I--” Eunho stammered, eyes darting back towards Hanul’s front doors. “I don’t know if--”

 

Hwan stuck his bottom lip out, and raised his eyebrows hopefully.

 

 

“Please??”

 

 

After another moment of consideration, Eunho nodded.

 

“Alright let’s go-- it’s on me today,” Hwan grinned, placing a hand on Eunho’s shoulder as they walked back across towards the center’s driveway. Eunho tensed reflexively underneath his fingertips, but then relaxed and moved closer, following Hwan’s lead.

 

 

.


	5. Thank You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan contemplates the differences between him and Eunho, but an encounter with Director Song has his mind spinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge THANK YOU again for your kind comments. It's a bit difficult sometimes to write things that are happening at the center from Hwan-- an outsider's-- POV. He's so innocent and naive himself, but curious, so it's kind of a weird balance I'm aiming for, haha.

 

**Thank You**

 

 

 

Hwan and Eunho ended up at a small noodle shop around the corner from the center, something Hwan initially grumbled about, until the smell of proper, non-packaged cooking wafted out from the kitchen and settled his stomach. The place was small, cramped, and busy, but Hwan was suddenly _hungry_ , so he scanned the room until he spotted an empty table against the building’s far wall.

“There’s a spot-- what do you want? I’ll order,” he said, pulling his wallet from his pocket. Eunho shied away from a loud trio of teenagers walking in behind them, and looked around the crowded room.

 

“I-- um--” he said quietly, distracted and uncomfortable. Hwan looked up at the menu hanging over the front counter.

 

“Seafood? Beef? Hmmm, the spicy kimchi bowl is on special…”

 

“Th-- that’s fine,” Eunho answered, growing increasingly anxious as more customers began to pile in behind them. He stepped closer behind Hwan, who nodded but moved away, heading over towards the cashier.

 

“Go grab that table,” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll be right there.”

 

Ten minutes later, Hwan weaved through the restaurant towards the back of the room, where Eunho waited, tense but patient. He juggled two bowls, one in each hand, and winced, the hot ceramic beginning to burn his fingers.

“Ow, ow, ow-- _ouch,_ ” he whined, dropping them onto their small table. Eunho smiled and relaxed as Hwan slid into the seat across from him. “Here, this one must be yours.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Hwan pulled his own bowl closer to him and grabbed two pairs of packaged chopsticks from the table’s condiment caddy, handing one to Eunho. He unwrapped the wooden utensils and started stirring the beef and vegetables at the top of his bowl down into the nest of noodles below. Once satisfied, he dug in.

“This is good-- how have you never been here before?” he said after a few bites, mouth full. Across from him, Eunho coughed, and Hwan looked up. He had a pained expression on his face, cheeks red, eyes watering as he swallowed more of the bright red broth.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“It’s... spicy,” Eunho answered, coughing again.

 

“Well yeah-- you said you wanted the _spicy_ kimchi bowl,” Hwan frowned, pointing at Eunho with his chopsticks.

 

“I-- I know. It’s okay.”

 

Hwan looked down at his own bowl, at the tender slices of beef peeking out amongst the mess of noodles and green onions. It was _so good_ , but treating Eunho to a hot meal outside of the cafeteria as an unspoken apology was half the reason he’d pleaded with him to come out in the first place. He sighed, but straightened his shoulders.

 

“Here, have mine. We’ll switch.”

 

Eunho began to protest, but Hwan pushed his bowl forward and reached out, grabbing Eunho’s and pulling it back towards him. He stirred through the spicy noodles and took a bite to emphasize his point, motioning for Eunho to do the same.

“Eat-- before it gets cold. I was.. I was about to order this anyway,” he complained between stifled coughs of his own. The man was right; it _was_ spicy. Eunho gave Hwan a dubious look but nodded and accepted the tradeoff. By the time Hwan choked down about as much of the meal as his burning tongue and running nose could take, he was nearly finished.

 

Hwan wiped his nose on his sleeve and watched Eunho pick at the last few pieces of beef at the bottom of his bowl. He chewed on his lip, trying to stop the question at the tip of his tongue-- a question he knew he probably shouldn’t ask-- but in the end his curiosity won out. Again.

 

“What was it like?”

 

Eunho looked up.

 

“At-- you know, the orphanage.”

 

“You… want to know?” Eunho seemed surprised at the question. Hwan shrugged and looked down.

“It was crowded, but the other kids were nice enough,” Eunho said, smiling.

 

“Do you miss them?”

 

“I do. Sometimes.”

 

“The Director’s family must have liked you a lot for you to keep working for them after all these years,” Hwan mused aloud, twirling his chopsticks through his leftovers aimlessly. Eunho stopped eating and looked down.

 

“Yes,” he said quietly. “I’m grateful for their kindness.”

 

He sounded lonely, and Hwan considered his own childhood. Sure, he grew up privileged-- there was no denying that-- but instead of being surrounded by other children his age as Eunho had, his younger years were full of dismissive nannies, cram school teachers, and other overbearing adults. It was almost a complete contrast to Eunho’s experience but somewhat lonely in its own right, and despite knowing that clearly between the two of him he was the one better off for it, a small part of him envied Eunho. He wished he could have traded some of the overwhelming attention showered on him for a few of Eunho’s childhood playmates.

Then, maybe neither one of them would have been lonely.

 

“Well, you have me now,” he said, leaning back and smiling.

 

Eunho looked back up, confused.

 

“You said you miss your old friends,” Hwan continued. “You have me now, right?”

 

The man across the table from him looked so taken aback Hwan wondered if he’d said something wrong. But they _were_ friends, weren’t they? Hwan enjoyed his presence; he’d woken up _early_ on a Saturday morning, excited to what-- volunteer? And Eunho, quiet as he was--

 

“I guess I do,” Eunho said finally, expression soft. “Thank you for lunch, Hwan.”

 

He nodded, smile returning to his face.

“It’s no problem. Let’s get out of here.”

  
  
  
* * *

 

After returning to Hanul Center, Hwan helped Eunho through a list of miscellaneous tasks he’d left for the end of the week-- changing light bulbs, replacing copier ink, and vacuuming empty weekday classrooms. Before long it was was almost four, and he sighed, following Eunho as he rolled the center’s aging vacuum back into his maintenance closet.

His back was already sore again, but he had to admit-- it was satisfying.

 

“Tired?” Eunho asked Hwan as he shut the closet’s door, quiet as ever, but with a small smile at the edge of his lips. Hwan crossed his arms.

 

“No,” he frowned. “I just-- ah…”

 

Eunho’s smile widened and he simply bowed his head and turned around the corner towards his room. Flustered, Hwan followed. Once inside Eunho’s small storage space, however, his pride melted again at the drawings littering the room’s grey walls.

 

“Eunho-- Eunho, did you finish it?”

 

The man turned around.

 

“Your sketch,” Hwan persisted. “Of me and…”

 

“You and Yoojin,” Eunho answered, and Hwan looked back at him, making a mental note, finally, of the young girl’s name.

 

“No-- but she really likes you,” Eunho continued as he leaned forward and rifled through his desk for a blank piece of paper. “She asked about you all week.”

Hwan stuffed his hands into his pockets. He was oddly flattered, but didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, after a moment Eunho turned back around, fresh volunteering receipt in hand.

 

“Here. Thank you.”

 

Hwan smiled, and grabbed the receipt when a loud knock behind him surprised them both. He turned, looking over his shoulder just in time to see a well dressed middle-aged man enter Eunho’s room.

Behind him, Eunho's shoulders tensed.

 

“Oh-- who’s this?” the man asked, raising a hand to adjust his round glasses.

 

“Kim Hwan,” he answered, eyes lowering. “The volunteer I told you about.”

 

Hwan looked between the two men, stymied by the unexpected tension filling the room. Annoyed, he held his head high and introduced himself.

“Kim Hwan-- from KCU. You have several accounts with us so I--”

 

“You’re from _the bank_?”

 

Hwan frowned. Something didn’t feel right.

 

“Yeah... why--?”

 

The man looked between him and Eunho. Then, suddenly, his demeanor changed completely.

 

“We’re glad to have you,” he smiled, walking closer to shake Hwan’s hand. “I’m Director Song. Song Homin.”

 

“Oh,” Hwan bowed his head as he took the man’s hand. “Thank you.”

 

“You’re on your way out then?” Director Song looked at the piece of paper in Hwan’s hand.

 

“I--”

 

“Good, I need to speak with Eunho for a moment,” he continued, and stepped aside, clearing Hwan’s path towards the door. “But I hope to see you again, Kim Hwan.”

 

Hwan nodded, and looked back at Eunho, but he was still standing silently next to his desk, head down.

 

“I’ll… talk to you later, Eunho,” he said, and Eunho finally looked back up, giving Hwan a small smile. Then, Hwan reluctantly turned to leave, but he felt Director Song’s eyes on him as he went, all the way.

  
  
  
* * *

 

That night, Hwan couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned, agitated and anxious. He couldn’t help but keep replaying _that_ scene in his mind, thinking about how quickly Eunho’s entire demeanor had changed once Director Song-- someone he said he was so close to-- appeared in his doorway. He’d closed himself off again, so _suddenly_ , and the way the older man reacted once he’d mentioned working at the bank…

It was unsettling. He sat up, untangled an arm from his sheets, and grabbed his phone.

 

_ <<Eunho.>> _

 

_ <<Eunho you there??>> _

 

Watching the minutes tick by as he waited for a response, he ran his hand through his hair. Surely everything was okay, right? But then again-- it was late. Why would he answer? Just when he was about to try one last time, his phone buzzed to life.

 

_ <<Lee Eunho: I’m here.>> _

 

_ <<Lee Eunho: What’s wrong?>> _

 

Hwan sighed in relief, but then blushed, embarrassed. It seemed he’d let his thoughts run away with him. It was confusing, even out of character for him, but he felt a weight he hadn’t realized was weighing on him lift from his chest.

 

_ <<Nothing>> _ he started typing out, and then hesitated before continuing. _ <<I just felt bad I didn’t say goodbye properly.>> _

 

_ <<Lee Eunho: It’s okay.>> _

 

Yawning, Hwan reached back to drop his phone back onto his small bedside table when the three small dots at the bottom of his screen flickered to life again.

 

 

_ <<Lee Eunho: Thank you.>> _

 

_._


	6. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan hears an interesting rumor about Hanul Center, and his last day volunteering is interrupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hard for me to write...but it's finally done... T.T
> 
> Thank you as always for all your kind comments and kudos!! <3

 

**Cold**

 

 

“I haven’t even started my hours yet.”

 

“Me either. We should have gone to Manager Cha’s project-- Hyangsook said it was easy _and_ he gave bonus hours to everyone who showed up,” Jonghoo muttered back to Joohyuk, slumped over the break room’s table next to his unfinished lunch.

 

“What about you, Hwan?”

 

Hwan leaned back out of the refrigerator, bottle of water in hand, and nudged the door shut with his elbow.

“Huh--? Oh, I’m almost done,” he bragged, unscrewing the bottle’s bright green top. Jonghoo and Joohyuk looked up.

 

“You? Seriously? No way. Did your father hook you up with something??”

 

Hwan frowned, insulted.

 

“ _What_? No I’m volunteering at a children’s center,” he snapped back, a note of pride in his voice that surprised even him. Jonghoo looked over at his friend and then back again, sitting up in his seat.

 

“Oh come on. Now I know you’re lying…”

 

“I _am_ ,” Hwan’s voice rose. “They have accounts here. Hanul Center.”

 

Jonghoo and Joohyuk exchanged another glance.

“Hanul Center? Better finish up quick then, Hwan,” Joohyuk said, standing and grabbing his trash from the table. He walked over to the waste bin at the end of the break room counter and tossed it inside.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“They’re about to default on their mortgage loan if they don’t make a massive payment soon. I don’t know what’s going on over there-- but it’s not looking good.”

 

Hwan’s mouth dropped open. He was stunned.

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“He’s right,” Jonghoo chimed in. “They’ve been behind for months. Byeon’s already got the paperwork ready to send over to the collection agency. But don’t worry Hwan, I’m sure Cha won’t make you redo the hours.”

 

Looking down, his heart sank, but it wasn’t over the potential loss of his volunteer hours; He was worried about the kids _._ About _Eunho._ Did he know about this? What would he do if the center shut down? Where would he go?

He screwed the lid back onto his water bottle and followed Jonghoo and Joohyuk back out onto the bank’s main floor. For the next forty-five minutes Hwan mulled over the news as he helped out the front teller line. Everything made sense now-- from the way the Director had reacted to him last Saturday to the panicked look in Eunho’s eyes the day he’d first walked into Hanul Center, returning Song’s ledger. Sure he was only a maintenance worker and part time security detail, but if he was as close to the Director and his family as it seemed, he must have _some_ idea of what was going on...

Then, as if summoned, the man himself walked in.

 

“Eunho--!!” Hwan waved him over to his station, but his face fell when he saw a fading, but very much still visible ring around his left eye. Eunho smiled as he walked up to the counter, deposit in hand.

 

“Hello, Hwan.”

 

“What _happened_?” he asked, lowering his voice. Eunho looked down as he slid the envelope of cash forward.

 

“It’s nothing. I had an accident with the ladder at work,” he shrugged, and brushed some of his bangs further over his forehead in an attempt to cover it. Hwan watched him closely as he slowly took the stack of bill’s from Eunho’s envelope, but Eunho only gave him another sweet, reassuring smile. Silently, he finished the transaction and printed Eunho his receipt, but held the paper between his hands, hesitant.

 

 

“Eunho, is everything alright at the center?”

 

 

Eunho looked back up and Hwan searched his eyes for an answer, but his expression was guarded.

 

“It’s busy. We’re getting ready for the new fiscal year."

 

Hwan sighed, annoyed. That wasn’t an answer.

 

“You know you have my phone number, right?”

 

Eunho said nothing for a moment. The question itself was meaningless, of _course_ he had his phone number, but he still thought carefully before nodding.

 

“I-- I know.”

 

“I’ll see you on Saturday then, right? Same time as usual?” Hwan asked, finally handing Eunho his receipt. The man bowed his head as he took it and folded the small sheet neatly, stuffing it into his pocket.

 

“Yes... I’ll see you then.”

  
  
  
* * *

 

It was only a few day’s wait but Saturday couldn’t come soon enough for Hwan. He sent Eunho a few messages throughout the rest of the week, to which Eunho responded in his usual short, polite manner, but he was still anxious to see him in person. He tapped his foot nervously on the bus ride over, watching as snow began to fall from dark clouds above, casting a soft, muted pall over the city.

Once he finally arrived at the center, he brushed the melting flakes from his hair and stepped inside the heated building.

 

“Hwan, you’re here,” Eunho said, looking up from his monitors once Hwan made his way back towards his security office. Hwan smiled, studying the man’s face. No matter what had happened, he was relieved to see that the bruising underneath Eunho’s eye had faded.

 

“You’re looking better,” he answered, spirits lifted.

 

Eunho nodded and returned Hwan’s smile as he stood up, but failed to match his energy. He seemed tired-- more tired than usual. Hwan hoped it was just due to the morning’s cold, dreary weather, but Jonghoo and Joohyuk’s warning popped back into his mind. He shook his head and pushed the thought away. This was his last day volunteering-- he didn’t want to sour the already somber atmosphere.

Walking around his desk chair over to the office’s cluttered corner of maintenance supplies, Eunho waved Hwan over and grabbed a clipboard hanging from the wall.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s a bit boring, but with the new year only a few days away I need to do some supply inventory,” he said quietly with apologetic eyes.

 

“Don’t worry. Anything that’s not outside is fine with me,” Hwan agreed, taking off his coat. Eunho relaxed.

 

 

As they dug through the mess together, tallying up air filters, vacuum bags, and light bulbs of various wattage, Hwan passed the time by complaining about his co-workers' disbelief that he’d not only almost finished his volunteering already, but did so at a _children’s center_. Eunho listened patiently, still tired and somewhat preoccupied, but he seemed happy for the distraction as his small smile grew warmer. More genuine.

“You should give yourself more credit,” he said softly once Hwan finished. Hwan looked up from the stack of boxed trash bags he was counting.

 

“You’re a good person.”

 

Eunho’s eyes were soft, and for a moment Hwan didn’t know what to say. A ‘good person’-- he’d been called many things before, but he couldn’t recall the last time he received such a sincere compliment.

 

“I-- the kids here will miss you,” Eunho continued, looking down at his clipboard again.

 

“Well,” Hwan sighed, suddenly fascinated with the particular box on top of the stack in front of him. “Maybe I can still come visit, whenever you need some extra help. I mean-- if I have the time to…”

 

Eunho smiled knowingly, and nodded.

 

“Of course. _"_

 

 

After another two hours of inventory and a quick lunch in the cafeteria (much to Hwan's displeasure), Eunho led Hwan back to the security office and filled out his last volunteering receipt.

 

“Already?” he asked, unable to hide his disappointment as he looked at the slip of paper in Eunho's hands. “It's only noon. I--”

 

“I thought... maybe you'd want to spend the afternoon with the kids,” Eunho said, nudging the receipt forward. “You've done more than enough the past few weeks.”

 

“Thank you,” he added quietly as Hwan finally reached out and pocketed the receipt.

 

Hwan looked back up, and opened his mouth to speak, when the security office’s door burst open and Director Song rushed into the small room. He looked between Hwan and Eunho, then turned squarely towards the latter.

 

 

“ _Father’s_ here. He showed up early.”

 

 

Hwan felt Eunho freeze next to him. He said nothing, and Director Song’s head turned. The look he gave him sent chills down Hwan’s spine.

 

“You’re from the bank, right?”

 

Hwan nodded.

 

“You should leave.”

 

“What--?!” Hwan said stepping forward, looking between the two men. “What are you--”

 

“It’s okay, Hwan,” Eunho said quietly, but with a firmness that surprised him. “Thank you for all your help.”

 

“But--”

 

Eunho’s eyes snapped back up, and Hwan’s voice caught in his throat. They were dark. Cold. Something was wrong-- something was so, _so_ wrong--

 

“Please.”

 

The urgency in Eunho’s voice made Hwan nod, despite his misgivings. He grabbed his coat, and looked Director Song up and down as he pulled it over his shoulders. As he shoved past the older man and opened the office door to leave, he looked back one more time over his shoulder.

Eunho’s eyes were still stony as he watched him go, but his body had all but curled into itself-- shoulders hunched, hands clasped together at his waist.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Hours later, well past sunset, Hwan sat alone in his apartment. He ran his hand through his hair and grimaced at the forgotten bowl of instant ramyeon sitting on his desk next to him. He had no appetite; even the smell of it was making his stomach churn. The way his last day at Hanul had been cut short still haunted him. Director Song’s interruption still haunted him. Eunho’s _eyes_ still haunted him. He hated the way he’d told him to leave, but he hated even more that he’d actually  _done it_ .

He should have stayed. And even though maybe it wasn’t his place-- he should have stood his ground.

 

Standing up, Hwan shoved his phone into his pocket and grabbed his coat. He couldn’t take it anymore. Wrapping a scarf around his neck, he walked out his front door, letting it slam shut behind him. He didn’t want to be pessimistic-- he didn’t _want_ to entertain the thoughts that had been creeping at the edge of his mind ever since Eunho had walked into the bank with an obvious black eye-- but he had to know. He had to know that Eunho was okay.

 

 

An hour later found him standing back outside of Hanul Center. It was late, the temperature dropping rapidly, as he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Eunho's number.

No answer .

 

Desperate, he tried again. Where else would he be? He frowned as once again the call went to voicemail, but eyed the front door. Surely, Eunho had already locked up for the night-- but since he was already here...

He squared his shoulders and walked up the building's front steps. Reaching forward, he wrapped his fingers around the front door handle and pulled.

 

It opened.

 

Slowly, he stepped forward into the dark, empty building.

 

 

.


	7. Broken Toys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan finds a troubling scene inside Hanul Center, but is forced to face his own emotions as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote most of this chapter sooo many times, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out. As always, thank you so much for reading and all your kind comments!! I love you guys! <3
> 
> (Also a side note: I finally changed my ao3 handle to match my twt... sorry for any confusion!!)

 

**Broken Toys**

 

 

Hanul Center’s lobby was quiet, _eerie_ , and Hwan jumped as the door slammed shut behind him. All the lights had been turned off-- but why was the building still unlocked? Slowly, he walked the familiar route towards Eunho’s room. Once he reached the office’s white doors, he pulled at the handle. It too, opened without resistance.

As he walked in, the office was dark, but Hwan saw a dim light coming from Eunho’s back room. Was he here after all? _Why_ wasn’t he answering his phone?

 

“Eunho--?” he called out softly. “Are you there?”

 

Only silence answered him and he tentatively stepped closer. He didn’t want to barge in uninvited, but something just _didn’t seem right_. Then, he froze as a corner of Eunho’s room came into view through the crack in his grey sliding doorway. Hwan ran forward, pushing the door all the way open.

 

“ _Eunho?!_ ”

 

 

The place was a disaster. His shelving was pushed over, toys broken and scattered across the floor. Water from the small cup in which he kept his paintbrushes flooded his desk, dripping into a small pool underneath an overturned chair. Rushing forward, Hwan scrambled over the upturned furniture towards Eunho’s small, raised sleeping area. Eunho was lying curled on his side on top of a thin mat.

Hwan’s heart pounded as he slowed, climbing up the green steps. Kneeling, he reached out and gently touched Eunho’s shoulder. The man flinched, but Hwan breathed a sigh of relief at the movement.

 

“Eunho,” Hwan said again as he pulled at his shoulder. “Look at me.”

 

“Please…”

 

 

Finally, Eunho let Hwan guide him up. He turned around, and Hwan’s breath caught in his throat. This was no black eye; Eunho’s nose was caked in dried blood, and series of of small scrapes laced his chin. Already, a dark purple bruise was blooming across his left cheekbone. He looked down, avoiding Hwan’s gaze.

“What _happened_?!” Hwan said, louder than he intended. Eunho’s eyes darted back and forth and Hwan grimaced, shaking his head as he lowered his voice again. “I-- I’m sorry. Look at me Eunho-- it’s okay.”

 

Eunho raised his eyes. They were red and swollen, tears still swimming at the edges, threatening to spill over. Hwan shook his head again. His blood was boiling, he was so frustrated, so _angry_ , but he forced himself to simmer down and stood up.

 

“Wait here,” he said, and turned around. Eunho looked back down, shoulders hunched over, hands shaking in his lap.

 

Walking out of Eunho’s room, back into the center’s security office, Hwan looked around. It _had_ to be here somewhere; he’d seen it while they did inventory. He rifled through the maintenance supplies they’d spent all day counting until finally, his eyes spotted a white, plastic box. He grabbed it at once and headed back around the corner, trying to suppress an overwhelming wave of guilt as he reentered the man's small room. He tried not to think about what would have happened if he’d only showed up earlier. If he'd just listened to his gut. Eunho himself hadn’t moved-- still frozen right where Hwan left him, looking over his ruined room with a dazed expression. Stumbling through the mess again and taking a seat on his loft’s green steps, Hwan opened up the first aid kit and grabbed a few disinfectant wipes.

 

“Eunho,” he said, reaching out to guide his face upwards, “What’s going on?”

Eunho didn’t flinch this time and let Hwan slowly clean his face. Wincing at the man’s clumsy, inexperienced touch, his eyes drifted past Hwan’s shoulder.

 

“Your sketch is ruined.”

 

Hwan stopped, and pulled a second wipe from the kit.

 

“What?”

 

“He ruined your sketch,” Eunho continued. Hwan followed his line of sight and turned his head. He looked around, confused, until he saw Eunho’s half finished painting of him and Yoojin lying wet and soggy in the puddle of water drenching his desk. He sighed. _That’s_ what he was worried about?

 

“Who did?” Hwan asked, prodding further, despite being reasonably certain he already knew the answer. Eunho looked back down.

 

“Director Song?”

 

“H-he’s a good man,” Eunho protested, finally giving Hwan the answer he needed. “He just gets… angry sometimes. I’m fortunate for--”

 

“No he’s _not_ , Eunho,” Hwan couldn’t help but snap back. He couldn’t _stand_ to hear his friend say, again, how ‘fortunate’ he was to be living in a glorified closet, at the beck and call of some family he claimed cared for him. This ruined room, the bruises on his face-- this wasn’t love or care. It wasn’t even basic respect.

“If he was-- he wouldn’t do _this_ to you. _Ever_.” Hwan pressed a band-aid across Eunho’s nose and stood up. The words tumbling out of his mouth hurt to say, considering how many of his own faults Eunho had overlooked the past few weeks, but he couldn’t stop himself.

 

“You don’t need to insist on only seeing the best in people, Eunho. Not-- not everyone is like you. People are selfish. People are _mean_. People take advantage of others.”

 

“I know that,” Eunho answered quietly.

 

“They why?! Why are you so accommodating all the time? Why do you let people push you around? Those detectives who needed security footage, the man you say you grew up with, even-- even _me_?!” His voice cracked.

 

 

“Eunho, why didn’t you call me?”

 

 

The man looked back at Hwan with desperate eyes. For one brief moment Hwan thought that _finally_ , Eunho was going to let him in, let him know what was really going on, until--

 

“It’s getting late. You’re going to miss the last bus,” he said instead. “I-- I need to clean this up.”

 

Eunho’s voice was as soft and kind, as usual-- but the words struck Hwan’s heart with a force he wasn’t expecting. After all this? He wanted him to leave, _again_ ? It hurt. It hurt and-- and maybe he was right. Maybe he should leave. Maybe he’d been nothing more than an annoying intrusion this entire time.

As usual.

 

“Fine,” he said, pulling his jacket back on, not bothering to try to hide the pain in his voice. “I can tell when I’m not wanted.”

 

Then, for the second time that day Hwan turned around and walked out of the center, swearing that this time, it would be for good. Just barely catching the last bus back downtown, he scowled as he swiped his pass and shoved the receipt into his pocket.

   
  
  
* * *

 

“Want to meet for dinner?”

 

Two days later Hwan was just clocking out after his Monday shift at the bank, balancing his phone between his ear and his shoulder as he handed his closeout slip for Byeon’s approval.

 

_ <<Sure, man. It’s been a while,>> _ the voice on the other end replied.

 

“What about that barbeque spot over by your place?”

 

_ <<Sounds good, Hwan. But don’t forget-- it’s your turn to pay this time…>> _

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll see you then,” Hwan rolled his eyes as he ended the call. Of _course_ Jungho was free to meet up again after so long-- there was a free dinner in it for him. As he waited patiently for Byeon to finish signing his balancing sheet, he frowned. He felt bad he’d been neglecting his other friends lately, but at the same time... he wasn’t particularly excited to go. Still-- excited or not, he didn’t want to go back to his empty apartment tonight. Not yet.

It was stifling, being there alone with his thoughts.

 

After grabbing his coat and walking out of KCU’s large glass doors, he arrived at the casual, yet trendy barbeque joint some thirty minutes later. Jungho was already sitting at a table in the middle of the restaurant, piling beef onto the grill in the middle. He looked up, grinned, and waved Hwan over to join him. Hwan smiled and shrugged off his coat before sitting down, but his eyes widened at the absolute mountain of beef the man had ordered.

“Are you _serious_? You ordered all this?!”

 

“Well _you_ ordered two extra beers and a bottle of soju you didn’t even finish last time we went out,” Jungho countered. “Don’t think I forgot about that, Hwan.”

 

Hwan pouted as he grabbed a pair of chopsticks, but shrugged. It didn’t quite add up to the same amount, but unfortunately the man was right.

 

“So-- what have you been up to?” Jungho asked, prodding again at the sizzling meat between them. “How’s the bank?”

 

“It’s okay, I guess. The usual,” he sighed. “Although--”

 

“You know I thought about stopping by the other day when I was in the area. I was visiting that mall down the street, looking for a necklace for Jiyoung. She’s so _picky_ though. I never know if I should get her the white gold or the…”

 

Hwan stared at Jungho as he interrupted him and launched into a twenty minute complaint over which diamond studded necklace to buy his girlfriend of six months. Once the second round of meat was done he transitioned to whining about how ‘harsh’ his father was on him at work-- their family law firm. Hwan’s mind began to wander as he picked at the lettuce and sides in front of him. Why did he even consider this guy a _friend_ in the first place? Complaining about a job that thousands of struggling graduates would absolutely kill for, or that he couldn’t decide between white gold and platinum jewelry for his snobby girlfriend? All while ordering twice as much food as they could possibly eat just because he wasn’t picking up the check?

He wished he were somewhere else. He wished he was--

 

“...Hwan?”

 

Hwan looked up, Jungho’s voice pulling him back. He forced a smile.

 

“I said, you’ve seemed busy lately,” the man repeated himself, stuffing another wrapped piece of meat into his mouth.

 

“Yeah,” Hwan said. “My manager had us all take a volunteering project this month.”

 

“What a _pain_ ,” Jungho said loudly. “That blows. Your father get you off the hook with something easy?”

 

Hwan frowned. Why did everyone--?

 

“No, I did some hours at a children’s center on the other side of town. It wasn’t that bad actually. I--”

 

“On the other side of town? Don’t tell me it’s the one that was on the news this morning.”

 

Hwan looked up.

 

 

“What?”

 

 

“Yeah,” Jungho pulled his phone from his pocket and unlocked it, swiping through his news feed. “Right here-- ‘ _Hanul Center maintenance worker arrested for the Saturday night murder of forty-eight year old former employee Y--_ ’”

 

“Let me see that,” Hwan said, reaching forward. He skimmed the article on Jungho’s phone until, sure enough, a photo of Eunho slid into view. His face was still haphazardly bandaged by Hwan’s amateur efforts, and he was being led out of the building towards a waiting patrol car by the same pair of detectives he remembered visiting the center before. But-- _Saturday night_ ? That couldn’t be right, because on Saturday night Eunho was with _him_ , a broken man curled up in a broken room--

 

“I have to go,” he said suddenly, shoving the phone back into Jungho’s hand and standing up. The man protested as Hwan grabbed his jacket and swung it around his shoulders.

 

“H-- hey!! What about--?”

 

  
“ _You_ ordered it, Jungho, and you ate it all. _You_ pay for it,” Hwan hissed back. Then he turned, dashing out of the restaurant and down the sidewalk towards the nearest bus stop.

 

 

.


	8. Alibi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan rushes to Eunho's aid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to get to the last few chapters of this fic-- my imagination is driving me crazy..
> 
> I really hope the last chapter was ok.. I'm a bit unsure about how it was received. I hate ending chapters on such a note but I hope it will make the final ending I have planned that much better <3

 

**Alibi**

 

 

It took Hwan hours to find the right station. After leaving the restaurant he’d immediately hopped onto the first bus headed towards Hanul Center's district, but once he was actually _there_ he found he’d underestimated both the number of police stations that served that precinct, as well as their willingness to help someone rushing through their doors after normal business hours. However, after pleading with the officers at his third stop, he caught a break.

“Hanul Center? Hasn’t Kang been working on that?” one of the men at the station’s front desk asked, looking at his partner. “Kang Jiheon-- from violent crimes?”

 

The senior officer thought for a moment and shrugged, but his partner continued.

 

“Yeah-- remember how worked up he was last week about it? About that girl’s father?” he turned towards Hwan, who was leaning forward against the counter in anticipation. “He’s still out in the field, but he usually stops back in before heading home for the night. You can wait if you want-- I’ll radio him you’re here-- but no guarantees.”

 

“You don’t know when he’ll be--”

 

“ _No guarantees_ ,” the officer repeated himself, and waved Hwan away towards one of the lobby’s aluminum waiting benches. Hwan frowned, but muttered a short ‘thank you’ and stalked across the otherwise empty room.

 

 

For another hour he waited, exhausted and anxious, sighing as he checked the time on his phone over and over again. Then, finally, the station’s doors opened and the detective Hwan recognized from Hanul Center stepped in. The detective who’d arrested Eunho-- Kang Jiheon.

He was walking with his hands shoved into the pockets of his dark leather jacket, head down. His hair was swept to the side, yet still unkempt-- as if he too was worn down. _Tired_. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Hwan stood from the station’s bench and puffed out his shoulders, stepping forward to intercept the man.

 

“I’m Kim Hwan. I’m here about Lee Eunho.”

 

Jiheon looked Hwan up and down for a moment, eyes lingering on the bank ID still looped around his neck.

 

“You’re the one with information?”

 

Hwan nodded and opened his mouth to continue, but Jiheon interrupted him before he could speak.

 

“Come on then. This way.”

 

The detective jerked his head to the left, hands still in his pockets, motioning for Hwan to follow him further back into the station. As Hwan walked behind him, through the main unit floor and past a small investigation center, he looked around, eyes wide, until they reached Jiheon’s desk. Jiheon pulled over a chair from a neighboring workstation for Hwan, and then sat down.

 

“What do you have for me,” he said, rifling through a few folders on his desk until he found a yellow notepad. He flipped through pages of barely legible notes until he found a blank slate.

 

“Eunho is _innocent_ ,” Hwan protested immediately. Jiheon looked up, eyebrows pulled together. Annoyed.

 

“You said you had ‘information,’” he said, tossing the notepad back onto his desk and leaning back in his chair. He crossed his arms, eyes watching Hwan’s every move with an intensity that left him feeling strangely exposed.

 

“It _is_ information,” Hwan continued, despite Jiheon’s change in attitude. “He couldn’t have killed anyone that late on Saturday night. I-- I was with him. At Hanul Center.”

 

“The center was already closed for the night,” Jiheon countered. “How do you know Lee Eunho? What’s your relationship to him? Why didn’t he mention anything about this during his statement?”

 

Hwan shrunk under the barrage of questions, feeling his face heat up.

 

“I… I volunteer at the center. He’s my _friend_ ,” he frowned. Eunho hadn’t mentioned him as an alibi? Why hadn’t he said anything?

 

“Do you normally stay that late at the center?” Jiheon continued to push.

 

“No, I came back that night--”

 

“Why?”

 

 

“‘Why?’ _You_ saw his face,” Hwan finally snapped back, leaning forward. “What do you _think_ happened? I went back to check on him-- he wasn’t answering any of my calls. You think he really went out, after being beaten up by that _asshole_ of a director, and committed a murder? Why would he do that? _That’s_ the question you should be asking--”

 

 

“The Director? Director Song?” Jiheon interrupted Hwan’s tirade, suddenly interested.

 

“Yeah,” Hwan continued, subdued and sulking now that he had Jiheon’s attention. “I was volunteering until around noon with Eunho when he showed up and... kicked me out. I work at the bank Hanul keeps their accounts with and--”

 

“He knew this? He knew you worked at KCU?” Jiheon interjected again, looking down at Hwan’s work badge.

 

“ _Yes_ \-- he knew,” Hwan sighed, irritated, trying to get to his point. “He seemed upset at Eunho. I didn’t want to leave, but--”

 

“What time did you get there?” Jiheon grabbed his notepad again from his desk and began scribbling down some notes. “How long did you stay?”

 

“I don’t-- _wait--_ I called before I went in,” Hwan said, and patted down his jacket’s pockets until he found his phone. Bringing up his call log he scrolled down until he found the two calls he’d made just outside of Hanul’s front entrance. He pulled up the record’s details, including location, and handed his phone to Jiheon. As the man jotted down the time, Hwan’s hand drifted back down to his pocket, suddenly remembering the receipt from his bus ride home. His fingers searched the pocket’s edges looking for--

“A-and I took the last bus home,” he added excitedly as he pulled out a small crumpled slip of paper. He tried to smooth it out as best he could, pointing at the faded timestamp. Jiheon looked back up at Hwan, and then down at the receipt. Then, once he’d handed Hwan back his phone, he leaned back and scratched his chin.

 

“There still must be something you’re not telling me. Why didn’t Eunho mention any of this? He said he had no alibi at all-- that he was alone in his room the whole night.”

 

Hwan looked down.

 

“We… we got into an argument,” he said, but then looked back at Jiheon. “Please, can I just talk to him?”

 

Jiheon thought for a moment.

 

 

“You can talk to him while I verify this,” he said, and waved over a petite woman with short hair from behind Hwan’s shoulder. He jumped, unaware she’d been there during their entire interview.

 

 

“Sooyoung, he wants to talk to Lee Eunho.”

 

The woman nodded.

 

“Come with me,” she said, and Hwan stood, following her.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Sooyoung led Hwan down a stairwell at the end of the station’s main floor. As they walked through the basement-- a dark row of interrogation rooms-- Hwan couldn’t help but shiver. Nearing the end of the hallway, she opened a door to their right, and ushered him in.

“Wait here,” she said. Hwan tentatively took a seat at the table in the middle of the room. He couldn’t help but pull his coat tighter around him as he waited. Finally, about fifteen minutes later, the door opened again and Eunho entered, looking down at his feet. His hands were cuffed together in front of him, and he was dressed in the same familiar blue plaid shirt and grey sweatshirt Hwan had become accustomed to seeing him in. When Eunho looked up to see his visitor, he stopped, surprised.

 

“Hwan,” he said so softly his voice was almost lost in the sound Sooyoung's footsteps behind him. She guided him forward to sit on the other side of the table, and then backed up again.

 

“I’ll be right outside,” she said as she turned towards the door, and directed their attention to the small camera in the room’s corner above them. Eunho nodded, but Hwan largely ignored the gesture, eyes still on the cuffed man as he sat down.

 

“Who did you think it was going to be?” he tried to smile, but he was distracted by the miserable state of Eunho’s face. Even the bandaid he’d applied two days ago was still there-- couldn’t they have cleaned him up a bit? Couldn’t they have at least replaced _that_?

 

Eunho looked down into his lap, and Hwan at his hands. They sat-- facing each other like this, avoiding each other’s gaze, until Hwan finally broke the silence.

 

 

“I’m sorry, Eunho.”

 

 

“I shouldn’t have said what I said. I--” Hwan’s words were sincere, but foreign to them both, and he stumbled awkwardly through the apology. “I wish-- I wish that--”

 

Eunho didn’t look up. Hwan frowned, frustrated, planned words lost in his throat.

 

“Can’t you just tell them you weren’t alone Saturday night? I already gave a statement, but I don’t understand why you--” He started again, fierce as ever, but stopped mid sentence as Eunho’s shoulders began to shake. When the man finally raised his head again his eyes were filled with tears.

 

 

“I didn’t think you’d come. I- I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think you come.”

 

 

“Eunho--”

 

“You left and-- and when people leave, they _never come back_.”

 

Hwan’s heart broke at the sheer conviction of Eunho’s words. The man in front of him truly and utterly believed he was alone-- that _no one_ was coming for him, despite his innocence and the proof to back it up. He tried not to think about Eunho sitting alone in a cell, so completely resigned to his fate. Picking at his nails, Hwan sighed. He had no idea what to do, what to say-- except the obvious.

 

“Well, _I_ did.”

 

When Hwan looked back up again, tears were running from the corners of Eunho’s eyes, but he was still staring back at him with a small smile on his lips.

 

 

“Hwan, I--”

 

 

Just then the interrogation room’s door opened and Jiheon walked in. Eunho tensed and quickly lifted his cuffed hands to wipe his cheeks dry. The detective looked between the two of them, giving Eunho a moment before clearing his throat and stepping closer.

 

“Hwan’s alibi checks out, Eunho,” he said, hands in his pockets. “Is it true?”

 

Eunho glanced up at the man only briefly, but nodded.

 

“Do you have anything _else_ you’ve been keeping from us?” Jiheon said, leaning forward and placing a hand on the table in between Hwan and Eunho.

 

“Hey--!!” Hwan protested, starting to stand again, but a sharp look from Jiheon silenced him. Eunho sat still for a few seconds, then shook his head. Hwan frowned, disturbed by the thick tension between the two men, but Jiheon turned and waved Sooyoung into the room, motioning towards Eunho’s handcuffs.

 

“Fine. You’re free to go,” he said. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”

 

Sooyoung unlocked Eunho’s handcuffs, and he stood up, rubbing his wrists. Hwan followed them both out the door and back upstairs. After waiting another twenty minutes in the lobby for Eunho to finish his discharge paperwork, finally, the man walked out. Hwan stood to meet him.

 

“It’s late,” Eunho said quietly, the same way he had before, but this time Hwan heard sincerity in his voice, not guarded deflection.

 

“You’ll miss the last bus…”

 

 

Hwan pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time. It _was_ late. At this hour, trying to get back downtown...

 

“I think I already have,” he complained, making a show of shoving his phone back into his jacket with sigh.

 

Eunho smiled. Then, together, they walked out of the station and turned towards Hanul Center.

 

.


	9. Closer to Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan helps Eunho piece back together his broken room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that I keep increasing the chapter count, but I can definitely say this will end up as either 11 or _maybe_ 12 chapters-- including the epilogue. I just keep thinking of little scenes I want to add... and they really started adding up, haha...
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and all your comments and love. I really didn't expect anyone to be interested in this fic since it's kind of an odd concept, but I'm so happy that people have enjoyed it.
> 
> FINALLY-- I just have to give a huge thank you to Therese for drawing [Hwan's makeover](https://twitter.com/Zeze_moonlight/status/1086980111885393922)... THANK YOU SO MUCH <333

 

**Closer to Me**

 

 

Walking towards Hanul Center, Eunho was quiet, but seemed in good spirits considering he’d been the primary suspect of a murder just hours earlier. Hwan shivered against the cold midnight air, filling the silence between them with a mix of aimless chatter and complaints about his evening running from station to station without much help. It was all painfully trivial compared to the events of Eunho’s own weekend, but he didn’t seem to mind, smiling and nodding along as he listened. A few blocks from Hanul, they passed a familiar noodle shop, and Hwan stopped. The place was closed, but his stomach suddenly reminded him he hadn't had much of anything since lunch.

“I’m hungry,” he complained. Eunho looked up. “You must be too, right? Is there anything still open around here?”

 

Eunho thought for a moment, then nodded his head towards a small convenience store ahead of them. The lights were dim, but the store’s green and orange sign was still on.

 

“They’re probably still open,” he answered. “But everything else around here closes early.”

 

Hwan sighed in disappointment, but at least it was _something_.

 

 

After they re-emerged from the convenience store, two bags full of packaged snacks and a beer for Hwan in hand, they continued up the road until Hanul’s brick red complex came into view. Eunho took the lead as they walked up the driveway, fishing his keys from his pocket and unlocking one of the center’s glass doors. Hwan followed him through, and waited as he locked up again before they both headed towards Eunho’s office.

 

“Oh-- ”

 

Hwan raised his eyebrows in surprise as Eunho opened the doorway to his room and ducked through. The place wasn’t quite as bad as it had been on Saturday night, but it was still a mess.

 

“I’m sorry,” Eunho quietly took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair at his desk. “I didn’t get a chance to finish picking things up.”

 

Hwan looked around, and then sat the two plastic bags in his hand down next to the doorway. He took off his own coat as well, throwing it over one of Eunho’s small cabinets, before leaning down to pick up a broken, villainous action figure lying on the floor at his feet. He still felt guilty for storming out last time he’d been here, but at least he could _try_ to make amends.

“Where does this go?”

 

Eunho smiled, picked up another, more intact figure that Hwan vaguely recognized as his own toy’s heroic counterpart, and then walked over to place it on the top of his room’s basic wooden shelving.

 

“Right here.”

 

Hwan nodded, trying to prop his masked villain next to its partner. The figure’s bent legs refused to cooperate, and he frowned-- frustrated. Eunho watched as Hwan tried one more time before gently taking the toy from his hands and adjusting its legs so he was sitting instead.

 

“He’s been like this for a while,” he said, an amused glint in his eyes. Hwan gave Eunho a sidelong glance and the man’s smile widened. For a moment, Hwan thought he would actually _laugh_ , but instead he turned his attention back to the toy, lovingly placing it next to the proud undamaged hero, despite its hidden face and awkward imperfections.

Piece by piece they put Eunho's broken room back together.

  
  
  
* * *

 

An hour later, the place didn’t look _exactly_ as it had before-- but it was close enough. Walking back towards Eunho’s doorway, his stomach grumbled as he grabbed their ‘dinner.’ He took his can of beer and a packaged triangle of rice from one of the bags, then handed the rest to Eunho.

 

“Here.”

 

Eunho hesitated.

 

“ _Take it_ , Eunho--” Hwan whined, drawing out his name while dropping the bag of snacks into Eunho’s hands. He ignored the lone desk chair that Eunho had clearly pulled out for him to use and sat down on his loft’s green steps instead. “I know they didn’t feed you anything good at the station.”

Sitting down next to him on the steps Eunho pulled out another rice triangle. Hwan opened his beer, offering some to his friend before taking a sip.

 

“No thanks,” Eunho shook his head, but smiled.

 

They ate in comfortable silence, until Hwan crumpled up his empty packaging and glanced over at Eunho. He wasn’t sure if he should bring it up, but something had been bothering him ever since his interview with Detective Kang at the station.

 

“Why did they think it was you?” he blurted out finally, unable to hold back any longer, body pleasantly buzzing as he finished his drink. Eunho’s chewing slowed, and he looked at the half finished triangle of rice in his hands.

“That detective-- he seemed so sure you knew something. You should have seen him while he took my statement,” Hwan complained. “It’s like he _wanted_ you to be guilty…”

 

“Mr. Yoon worked here,” Eunho answered quietly.

 

“Oh--” Hwan said, remembering the article he’d glanced over on Jungho’s phone. “You knew him? Did he work with you?”

 

“He worked in the finance department,” Eunho shook his head. “But he-- he didn't deserve what happened to him.” He wrapped up the remainder of his rice as he finished, appetite lost. Hwan frowned and prepared to press further, but to his surprise Eunho continued on his own.

 

“I went over to drop off a new year’s gift from the center. He was already... gone. I didn’t know what to do.”

 

“You didn’t report it?” Hwan asked, searching for Eunho’s eyes, but the man was still looking down, head hung low as he shook his head again.

 

“What would they think of me? They already--”

 

Eunho stopped, and Hwan waited patiently again for him to continue. He was glad to finally see some of the thick walls Eunho kept up around him at all times start to fade, but he hated that it was under such circumstances. Why did so much death and violence seem to follow him? It was as if the center itself was cursed. He wondered, assuming he could find him another opportunity, how he could convince Eunho he didn’t need to _stay_ here.

 

“Detective Kang suspected me once of an incident a few years ago,” Eunho continued once he found his voice again, bringing Hwan back out of his thoughts. “He... doesn’t like me. He still hasn’t forgotten.”

 

Scratching his neck, Hwan remembered the way the detective had asked about his relationship with Eunho. How he’d pressed his hand down on the table in the interrogation room, reluctant to let Eunho leave, convinced he was hiding something. It made sense now, knowing now they had a history, but it still irked him. Briefly, he wondered what previous ‘incident’ Eunho had been suspected of, but something in the way Eunho was clutching the unfinished snack in his hand kept him from asking.

 

“People always manage to find a way to judge you in the way _they_ want to,” he said instead, thinking of his reputation at the bank. Hwan, the slacker. Hwan, the screw-up. It wasn’t as if Joohyuk didn’t show up late and make mistakes too-- he just had Jonghoo to cover for him. Same with Hyangsook and Hyejung, and even Byeon and Jung Man-ok to some extent. He was always the odd one out, it seemed.

“It’s only up to us to change their minds for the better, I guess,” he grumbled.

 

Eunho looked back up at his words, and Hwan shrugged, stifling a yawn. It was late, _too late_ , considering he had work in the morning. He stood up and threw away his trash into Eunho’s small black bin. Then, he looked around.

 

The maintenance worker’s room was tiny, but oddly enough Hwan had started to get used to it. Now, however, it seemed even smaller as he wondered-- where was going to _sleep_? As if sensing Hwan’s apprehension, Eunho stood as well, tossed the rest of his rice away, and walked past him towards his doorway.

 

“Wait here,” he said as he left. Hwan stood awkwardly in place until Eunho returned with another sleeping mat and extra blankets. He put them down, then walked around Hwan and rifled through the drawers next to his desk until he pulled out a long sleeved shirt and pair of grey sweatpants.

 

“What? I-- I don’t need--”

 

“You want to sleep in your work clothes?” Eunho asked. Hwan felt his face heat up, but admittedly-- that did sound unappealing. The room obviously wasn’t originally meant to be lived in, and it was _cold_ now that the center’s heating had already shut off for the night hours ago.

 

“No, I guess _not_ ,” he mumbled, taking the clothes from Eunho’s hands.

 

 

After Hwan changed, he carefully folded his striped shirt and slacks. Eunho’s clothes were drab and somewhat worn but oddly enough-- they fit him perfectly. When he turned around he saw that Eunho had pushed his own sleeping mat over to make room for Hwan’s right beside it, next to his small space heater. Suddenly, he felt anxious, smoothing his hands over the soft fabric of his borrowed sweatpants.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have another pillow,” Eunho said, gently placing his own over onto Hwan’s mat and rolling up one of his blankets to use instead. Hwan frowned, annoyed, as he climbed up the loft’s stairs, taking the blanket from Eunho’s hands.

 

“I’m _not_ taking your pillow, Eunho,” he complained, switching the pillow back to its original spot and clumsily balling up the blanket at the top of his mat. “I’ll be fine for one night without one.”

 

Eunho thought for a moment, but nodded. As Hwan tried to get settled he changed as well, turning down all the lights except for his small desk lamp. When he returned he watched Hwan tossing and turning next to him, unable to lie still.

 

“You’re uncomfortable,” he said as he turned on the space heater and sat down. Hwan looked up, glad his face was somewhat hidden in the dim light. Eunho didn’t seem phased at all by their close proximity as he lay back, and then it dawned on Hwan that he probably grew up sleeping next to other kids at the orphanage like this-- crowded together on a cold, hard floor. Then, that perhaps by _‘uncomfortable,’_ his own floor and thin mat were probably what the man had meant.

 

“It’s okay,” Hwan answered, quickly looking away to hide his embarrassment. Eunho’s eyes lingered on him for a moment but then he pulled his own blanket closer around his shoulders and turned around as well.

 

“Goodnight Hwan. Thank you for tonight,” he said softly.

 

Even though Eunho couldn’t see it, Hwan smiled.

  
  
* * *

 

Despite the less than ideal setup, Hwan was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately. Still-- the night was cold, and after waking up twice, shivering even in the presence of Eunho’s space heater, he found himself drifting towards the much _closer_ warmth next to him. In his semi lucid state he hardly registered that he’d all but moved onto Eunho’s sleeping mat, burying his face into a soft, warm shoulder. He began to drift off again, when a sudden movement from the body next to him jerked him back awake.

 

 

“ _Stop…_ ”

 

 

Eunho’s voice was muffled underneath his blankets, but Hwan’s eyes opened immediately. He froze. Next to him, Eunho’s body was trembling, and he slid back, detaching himself from the man.

 

“ _Please--_ ” Eunho whispered again in his sleep, curling his body around himself.

 

Hwan didn’t know what to do. Maybe it was just a bad dream-- but even in the low light he could see his neck was soaked in sweat. He hesitated, but when Eunho moaned again, shoulders shaking, Hwan’s hand reached out before he could stop himself.

 

“Eunho,” he said, pulling him around to face him.

 

 

“ _Eunho--!!”_

 

 

_._


	10. Last Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hwan's determined to help Eunho, but Eunho has his own plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you guys so much for the support and comments, you all are amazing.. I'm so nervous about these last two chapters as things come to a close, but I hope everyone has enjoyed things so far!! I didn't expect to become so invested in writing this, but it's really turned into something I'm proud of and really enjoyed writing. 
> 
> I know things at Hanul are vague, since this is from Hwan's POV-- but stay tuned for the last chapter and hopefully any questions will be answered.. T.T
> 
> (Also, apologies for a longer chapter than normal, but it wasn't quite long enough to split into two haha)

 

**Last Note**

 

 

“ _Eunho--!!_ ”

 

Hand on his shoulder, Hwan shook Eunho awake. His eyes darted back and forth as they opened-- erratic and confused. His hands rose, trying to push Hwan away, and Hwan let go, allowing the other man to press him back against the loft’s concrete wall. Eunho looked down at him with a desperate, piercing gaze full of so much pain that it took Hwan’s breath away.

“Eunho, wait--” he said, holding his hands up in front of him. His friend didn’t seem to hear him, only gripping his arms tighter, so forcefully it hurt. It wasn’t until Hwan reached out to place his hands on either side of Eunho’s face that his eyes finally focused on his.

 

“It’s me-- it’s just _me_ ,” he said again, underneath Eunho’s strong grip. Eunho released his hold on Hwan, but his shoulders were still trembling. He jerked his head away from Hwan’s touch and shrunk back, turning away and covering his face with his hands. Hwan wanted to reach out-- he wanted to wrap his arms around Eunho’s thin frame, but instead he slowly pulled a blanket back up around the man's shoulders.

 

“I’m sorry,” Eunho said into his hands, and Hwan looked away. For some reason, he felt like he was the one who’d done something wrong-- that _he_ should be the one apologizing.

 

“It’s okay, you were just having a nightmare, right?” Hwan tried his best to answer in a light tone, but the words still sounded hollow. “It happens.”

 

Eunho wiped his nose on his sleeve and nodded, but the thick heaviness that filled the room was evidence enough they both knew it wasn’t so simple.

 

 

“I’m going to get you out of here.”

 

 

The words tumbled from Hwan’s mouth as he balled his hands into tight fists. He didn’t understand why, but there was something about this moment, about this ‘nightmare’ and the almost feral way Eunho reacted, that was the last straw. Eunho looked up in surprise at the abrupt change of topic.

"I’m _getting you out of here_ ,” he said again, with more conviction. “I-- I’ll find you a new job. A new place to stay. This place is _horrible_. Vagrant corpses? A murder? You-- you can’t even sleep.”

 

Eunho said nothing, looking down and pulling his blanket closer around himself. Hwan sighed. He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to _do_. He felt so helpless here in the dark, like an outsider looking in. No-- like someone trapped safely on the warm side of an iced-over window.

 

“Please… at least let me try?”

 

Finally, Eunho nodded as he lie down again, but it was lacking his usual sincerity. He turned his broad back towards Hwan, curling his arms around his legs and burying himself as if trying to disappear from view altogether. Hwan watched him for a moment before leaning back and staring at the ceiling above him. In the dim light, he tried to trace the cracks in the stained fiberboard tiles-- until his eyes grew heavy once more.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Waking up the next morning, Hwan slowly emerged from a heavy cocoon of blankets-- more than he remembered falling asleep under. Next to him, Eunho’s sleeping mat was empty. Confused, Hwan tossed the bedding aside and stood up, just as the man walked back in through his sliding doorway.

 

“You’re still here,” he said, already fully dressed, work gloves hanging from his pocket.

 

“Of course I’m still here,” Hwan frowned. Why was Eunho acting so... normal? As if hours earlier, he hadn’t woken up sweating, eyes full of terror, practically crushing Hwan against the wall behind him. How often did this happen-- did he even _remember_?

 

“Oh, I meant the time.”

 

Immediately, the questions flooding his mind disappeared and Hwan’s frown turned to panic.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” he whined, scrambling down off of Eunho’s loft and grabbing his phone to check the time. _Great_. There was no way he’d be able to stop back at his apartment before work-- he’d be lucky if he even arrived on time leaving from here. Quickly pulling off Eunho’s borrowed clothes, he got dressed.

 

“I had something I needed to take care of,” Eunho answered as Hwan stared into his phone’s camera, trying his best to make his hair somewhat presentable. He looked up, curious, but let the comment slip by, already late enough as it were.

 

“Eunho, I meant what I said last night,” he said, grabbing his coat and pulling on his shoes. He felt bad he had to rush out so quickly and leave Eunho alone again, but the man seemed so _calm_ , already sliding back into his normal routine.

 

“I’m going to find you another job-- I promise-- and I’ll be back again after work, okay?”

 

Eunho stared back at him, but remained silent. Then, he held out a fresh, warm piece of toast wrapped in one of Hanul cafeteria’s napkins.

 

“You should eat something on the way.”

 

Hwan smiled, grabbed the small offering, and headed out.

  
  
  
* * *

 

“Woah-- look who it is,” Jonghoo said loudly as Hwan tried in vain to slip through KCU’s front doors unnoticed. His grin only widened as he slowly registered Hwan’s messy curls and unchanged clothes. “Looks like someone had a late night.”

 

Hwan scowled back at the man as he walked around the front counter to his station, a bright blush creeping up his neck.

 

“Who was the lucky victim?” Jonghoo continued, and honestly, in that moment Hwan considered simply turning around and walking right back out.

 

“It’s not-- I mean-- _nobody_ ,” he hissed, taking off his coat as he sat down. Jonghoo laughed, but mercifully, Team Leader Byeon walked out onto the floor behind them and he straightened his face.

 

“Jonghoo, Joohyuk. Check your email. We have a meeting with Director Lee this afternoon,” Byeon said, pointing in their direction. Jonghoo nodded and turned back around.

 

 

The day was slow-- it was a Tuesday after all-- and Hwan spent the morning thinking about Eunho’s situation. He wasn’t sure of Eunho’s education level or qualifications, but the man was such a hard worker there had to be something else out there for him. Grabbing a cup of coffee during his break, he scrolled through his contacts as he walked back. Then, just as he rounded the corner, his fingers stopped. A- _ha_.

Oh Minjun. His sister used to run a camp for children just outside of the city. It would be a seasonal job, and truthfully he hadn’t heard from the man since a certain... misunderstanding over a _norebang_ bill, but for Eunho’s sake it was worth a shot.

 

_ <<Minjun. Its Kim Hwan. I know we haven’t talked in a while, but>> _ he hesitated, taking a deep breath and swallowing his pride before typing out the rest.

 

_ <<I need a favor.>> _

 

After pressing the green arrow at the bottom of his screen, he pocketed his phone again and headed back to work. Walking in and around towards his station, he was about to sit down again when Jonghoo intercepted him. Hwan steeled himself, but instead of another round of off-color jokes, he pushed a stack of paperwork into his hands.

 

“Here-- can you make us four copies of this before our meeting in…” he checked his watch. “Twenty minutes?”

 

“Sure,” Hwan sighed, and sat his to-go cup down at his desk before turning towards the printer. Mindlessly, he copied page after page, staring off in thought, until the machine shuddered to a halt. He leaned down, picked up the finished copies, and started to turn back around when a name on the front page stopped him.

 

 

_Hanul Center_ . Hanul Center's foreclosure documentation.

 

 

“Hanul defaulted on the loan?” he asked, voice rising as he stepped from the copier back towards Jonghoo's station. Jonghoo looked up at him and shrugged.

 

“Yeah, seems like it. I heard they’ve had some other trouble today too. My buddy in collections said the police have been there all morning. The whole place will probably be shut down by the end of of the day, at least until--”

 

Hwan ignored the rest of his sentence and shoved his finished copies into Jonghoo’s surprised hands before rushing over to Byeon’s desk.

 

 

“I need the afternoon off.”

 

 

Byeon looked up at him as if he’d asked him for a decade’s worth of paid vacation leave.

 

“ _Please_ , it’s an _emergency_ ,” Hwan begged. “I’ll-- I’ll do flier duty all next week. I’ll clean the break room. I’ll--”

 

Byeon made a loud noise of irritation and leaned back, waving at Hwan to stop his pleading. He sighed, and scanned the branch floor.

 

“It’s slow today anyway--” Hwan persisted, gesturing towards the lack of lines at the front teller stations, but quickly shut his mouth after a pointed look and raised eyebrow. Byeon crossed his arms and thought for a moment before answering slowly.

 

“Loans team has a meeting in a few minutes. After that’s over with-- _if_ you’ve finished double checking those accounts I gave you last week-- you can go.”

 

Hwan wanted to protest, he wanted to go _now_ , but he forced the words back down his throat and bowed in thanks instead. Then he returned to his seat and rushed to work, fingers rapidly flying across his keyboard.

  
  
  
* * *

 

Two and a half hours later, Hwan was finally running out of KCU’s double doors. By the time he finally made it back to Hanul Center, the place was in chaos. News about the foreclosure had started to spread, but to his surprise it seemed Jonghoo was right-- that was only half of the story. Walking up the center’s main driveway he arrived just in time to see Detective Kang escorting a disheveled Director Song from the building and into a waiting patrol car. As he slammed the backseat door shut behind the man, Jiheon spotted him among the bystanders and gave him a small nod.

“What’s going on?” he asked a middle aged woman standing next to him. She shook her head in disappointment.

 

“No one’s really sure-- but it must have to do with Yoon’s murder,” she answered quietly. Hwan frowned, murmured a short thank you, and then turned and quickly headed towards the center’s front doors. Something about the entire situation had alarm-bells ringing in the back of his mind-- it was too coincidental. He walked the familiar route towards Eunho’s office, but when he opened the door and headed back towards the storage closet his heart stopped.

 

_No--_

 

The room was empty, completely empty, except for Eunho’s most basic furniture. Everything-- the toys, the sketches, his clothes and crafts-- all of it was gone. Not a single trace of Lee Eunho remained behind.

Nothing, except for a small piece of paper centered in the middle of his desk.

 

Slowly, Hwan walked forward. It was a sketch-- a finished redrawing of the ruined portrait Eunho had promised him weeks ago. Uncolored, it looked somewhat rushed, but Hwan could still see the love and care in every pencil stroke. In the background behind him and Yoojin, albeit softer with less detail, he’d added himself, watching the happy scene with a smile on his face. Then, his eyes noticed a small note in the drawing’s top corner.

 

 

_“People are selfish. Take advantage of others.”_

 

Hwan’s heart sunk further at seeing his own words staring back at him.

 

_When I met you I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand what you wanted from me. I didn’t understand why you stayed. Why you were willing to trade meals with me. Why you stood up for me. Why you came back. Then came back again._

 

_I think last night I finally found my answer. But it’s something I can’t give you._

 

_It’s too late. I’m already broken. You deserve better._

 

_I’ll never forget you, Hwan, and even though I know its too much to ask, please… every once in a while..._

 

_Remember my face as well._

 

 

Hwan grabbed the sketch and turned around, running out of Eunho’s room, out of the security office, back towards the center’s lobby. As he rounded a corner, he ran squarely into a tall woman with shoulder-length black hair. He bowed, muttered an apology, and was about to take off again when suddenly he remembered her-- the woman talking with Eunho outside at the playground two weeks ago.

“ _Wait--!!_ ” he shouted as she started to walk away. She turned back around.

 

“Eunho, Lee Eunho,” he said, gesturing back towards the security office. “Have you seen him?! Do you know where he went?”

 

The woman studied him for a moment, then noticed the sketch in his hands.

 

“I saw him heading out the side doors a few minutes ago with two trash bags,” she said finally. Hwan nodded, then turned around and continued down the halls. He pushed through the center’s side doors and ran down the path leading behind the building towards Hanul’s main waste pick up.

 

 

“ _Eunho--!!_ ”

 

 

The man was just setting down a pair of white, overflowing bags next to a green, plastic bin. As Hwan walked closer he could see they were full of his crafts, art supplies, even the toys that normally brightened his small sanctuary. Eunho froze at Hwan’s voice, back turned to him.

 

“You’re early,” he said, as Hwan rounded to face him, panting and out of breath.

 

“I heard about the center at work. I-- I left as soon as I could.”

 

“Oh, right. The bank…” Eunho said, looking at his feet with a wry smile. Hwan clutched the piece of paper in his hand even harder at Eunho’s tone. All the warmth, joy-- even sadness was gone from his voice. It was flat, devoid of any emotion at all, with a sense of finality that chilled him far more than the snow falling around them.

 

“Where are you going?! Eunho, I know the center’s closing but I promised you I’d-- I’d find--” he stopped, voice catching in his throat. Eunho didn’t look up, didn’t move at all.

 

 

“I don’t know.”

 

 

The words broke Hwan’s heart all over again. No. No-- this was all wrong. Eunho couldn’t just leave like this. It wasn’t _fair_. He refused to accept it.

 

“Well, I-- I’m coming with you,” he said, planting himself firmly in Eunho’s path. “Wherever you’re going, I’m coming too. A-and you’re not broken, you’re… you’re just a little bit _bent_ . You just need to sit down-- to rest for a while. Like _him_.”

Hwan pointed at the disfigured, masked villain poking out of one of the trash bags, the same toy Eunho had cared for just as much as its proud heroic twin, and finally, Eunho’s head moved. He stared at it for a moment, at _all_ of his possessions-- everything he owned-- lying rejected and discarded next to the rest of the center’s garbage. Then he looked up, frozen tears lining his cheeks.

 

“Hwan…”

 

His voice was still dull, but Hwan saw the briefest flash of hope in his eyes as he spoke his name. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Eunho, pulling him against his chest. At first Eunho stood petrified, in shock, unsure of how to respond, then he slowly raised his arms to return the hug. Sobbing, he pressed his face into Hwan’s shoulder.

 

 

“ _Help me_.”

 

 

Hwan pulled him tighter against him, holding him until Eunho’s sobs slowed and his breathing evened again. Eunho clung onto him, fingers digging into the fabric of Hwan’s coat, an anchor against a tidal wave of emotions and pain buried for far too long.

 

“Come on,” Hwan said in a voice strong enough for the both of them once he’d calmed down, steering the man away from the center. He didn’t know where they were headed any more than Eunho did, but that was something they could figure out later. Together. For now, this-- this was enough.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

Eunho nodded and finally let Hwan lead him away from the looming red building behind them, wiping his wet cheeks dry again with his cold, rough hands. As they walked down the winding street, Hanul Center slowly disappeared from view.

 

 

With his friend's arm around his shoulder--

 

Eunho didn’t look back.

 

 

.


	11. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months later, much has changed at Hanul Center, and Hwan helps Eunho find some much needed closure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be a bit anti-climactic compared to last chapter, but it's basically a short epilogue I wanted to write to tie up some loose ends and answer some questions about the fate of Hanul Center. I'm a bit sad to be ending this series, but thank you so much for reading. I had a lot of fun writing this, and rest assured, I WILL be writing more of this pair in the future via some cute one-shots... I can't help it. I just love them too much at this point.
> 
> Special thank you to the people who listened to me rattle off ideas in DMs, everyone who left such sweet comments, and those who supported this odd pairing in the first place, haha.
> 
> I love you all! <3

 

**Epilogue**

 

 

“Good morning, Mr. Kim--!”

 

Hwan nodded as he passed a pair of teachers walking down Hanul Center’s freshly renovated halls. He smiled to himself and adjusted his suit, rounding two more corners before pulling open his office’s glass paneled door.

It took a fair amount of pleading on his part, but after arguing the benefits of adding a non-profit organization to the family portfolio, Hwan had _eventually_ convinced his father to buy Hanul. Granted, the price was low-- not only was the center drowning in debt, but further investigation into its management revealed a shocking tale of abuse perpetrated over decades by Director Song’s father.

He frowned as he sat as his desk, thinking of Eunho. Hwan never dared to bring up the subject during his visits to the hospital, but the fact that Eunho qualified for and _chose to go through with_ a four month inpatient rehabilitation program for abuse survivors was clear enough. His stomach tightened and he pushed the thought from his mind. It was a shame the old man had a heart attack just after he’d been taken into custody; he should have been judged for the monster he was, publicly, for all to see.

 

Still-- he’d died disgraced, penniless, and alone. Unable to harm Eunho, or any other child, ever again.

 

Taking a moment to turn on his computer, Hwan refocused his thoughts and thumbed through a stack of quarterly revenue statements. Just when he was about to get back to work, his door opened again.

 

“Mr. Kim, someone else is here to see you. Downstairs in the lobby.”

 

Hwan sighed. _Again_?

 

“Thank you, Jiyoo.”

 

 

Picking through his curls and walking back downstairs, a small group of children ran around him, shoving past his legs. Hwan steadied himself and scrunched his face in annoyance. Then, as the tiny terrors gleefully started screaming a familiar name, Hwan looked up.

 

“ _Mr. Eunho!!_ ”

 

At first he was certain his eyes were deceiving him, but sure enough, there he was-- Lee Eunho-- standing just inside the center's front doors. He was dressed in his usual jeans and plaid flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up to accommodate the warm, sunny weather. Smiling brightly, he knelt down and let the crowd of children swarm him as they talked over each other. Hwan felt his feet following their lead, grinning just as widely as the small faces in front of him. After humoring his younger fans for a minute, Eunho gently detached himself from their grip and stood up.

 

“Hwan,” he said, and started to bow before Hwan stopped him, rushing in for a hug instead.

 

“What _took_ you so long,” he complained, pouting in mock disappointment as they broke apart. Eunho looked down, still shy as ever, but his smile widened.

 

“Come on, Eunho-- let’s have some lunch. You hungry?”

  
  
  
* * *

 

Thirty minutes later they were sitting in the center’s cafeteria, a fresh, hot meal in front of them while Hwan loudly recapped his first few weeks as Hanul’s junior financial officer (in training). Eunho smiled and nodded along, until finally his friend had all but exhausted himself in his excitement.

 

“This place… it seems brighter,” he said. Across the table from him, Hwan shrugged.

 

“Mostly we just repainted, but some offices in the north wing needed a bit more work.”

 

“The atmosphere,” Eunho clarified, and Hwan looked up, mouth full of beef and rice.

 

“Oh-- you think so?”

 

“Definitely.”

 

Hwan beamed, and proudly straightened his shoulders. Ever since graduating he’d tried to avoid following his father’s footsteps, but as much as he hated to admit it, in taking on Hanul Center he’d finally found something that felt _right_. Although it would be a few years before he had enough experience to handle the center’s finances on his own, he’d already set his sights even further.

“One day, _I’ll_ be the Director here, Eunho,” he voiced aloud. “And run this place the way it _should_ have been run.”

 

Eunho smiled at the sheer determination in Hwan’s face.

 

“You’ll do great, Hwan.”

 

He blushed, but basked in the praise and continued eating. After they both finished, he sighed in satisfaction, then looked at Eunho curiously.

 

“What about you? How’s the new job at the camp working out? They’re paying you what they promised right? I’ll drive down there _myself_ if--”

 

Eunho’s face fell at the mention of the camp, and Hwan stopped. He frowned, confused. He’d cashed in _all_ his favors with Oh Minjun to score Eunho that job for the summer-- something to get him back on his feet and earn him a nice bit of money while he adjusted to his new life. If the bastard had gone back on his word...

 

“I-- I quit,” Eunho said quietly.

 

“ _What?!_ What did they do? I’ll--”

 

“No, no--” Eunho looked back at Hwan and shook his head. “Ms. Oh was great. Everyone was great. I… I just--”

 

Hwan relaxed, but waited for Eunho to continue.

 

“I miss this place,” he said softly. “I-- I miss _you_ , Hwan.”

 

 

Feeling his cheeks heating again, Hwan studied Eunho’s face before responding.

 

 

“You… want to work here again? Are you sure that’s... okay?” he asked carefully. Eunho thought for a moment, then nodded.

 

“The camp is nice. It’s peaceful. But-- it’s also lonely. This place… It wasn’t all bad. I had good memories here too.”

 

Eunho’s voice was quiet, but deliberate in its sincerity. His eyes were bright with a hopeful shine that warmed Hwan’s heart. He couldn’t help but remember Eunho’s mischievous smile as he playfully scolded the Hajoon for running over his foot with his fire truck, or the caring way he clipped the dead leaves away from the center’s landscaping.

Truthfully, he’d missed Eunho too.

 

“Well, if you’ve already quit, I guess I have no choice in the matter. And I _suppose_ you’ll be asking for matching pay as well…” Hwan sighed, playfully crossing his arms as if reluctant to give in to Eunho’s request.

 

“But-- your old room is full of storage now. You’ll have to find a decent place to live. Deal?”

 

Eunho smiled.

 

 

“Deal.”

 

 

After dropping off their trays, Hwan gave Eunho a quick tour of Hanul, highlighting the changes they’d made now that their revenue and donations were flowing properly into the center and its resources as intended. They took a small detour to grab the necessary paperwork needed for his rehire, then he walked Eunho back out towards the lobby.

“You have a place to stay right now?” he asked, holding the door open for him as they stepped outside. Eunho nodded and looked out toward the small neighborhood just south of the center.

 

“I’m renting a room nearby.”

 

Hwan opened his mouth, ready to protest, but took a deep breath instead. He wanted to see Eunho thriving, moving into a place of his own, but he forced himself to swallow his impatience. As much as he wished he could help, deep down he realized this was something Eunho would have to do on his own.

 

“There’s… something else you can help me with though,” Eunho added slowly, sensing Hwan’s frustration.

 

“Oh?”

 

“You have a car now, right?”

 

“Well, it’s a _company_ car, but…”

 

“Do you think-- do you think you can take me someplace on Saturday? It’s out of the city, I know it would be a hassle but--”

 

“What time?” Hwan interrupted. “Just let me know when and where-- I’ll be there.”

  
  
* * *

 

Early Saturday morning, Hwan took a sip from his half finished cold-brew as he pulled up in front of a homely, but well taken care of duplex. Eunho was waiting patiently outside, talking to an elderly woman as she watered potted plants along the sidewalk. Upon seeing Hwan approach he gave her a respectful bow and held the duplex’s right door open for her, helping her back inside. Hwan’s curious eyes couldn’t help but notice the aging building’s freshly patched roof, but he turned his attention back to Eunho as the man slipped into the passenger seat next to him.

“Ready to go?” he asked, shifting the car back into drive. Eunho nodded and pulled on his seatbelt.

 

The weather was bright and warm. Hwan smiled as they headed out, tapping his thumbs against his steering wheel in time with a catchy summer tune drifting from the radio. Next to him, Eunho looked out of his window as he watched Seoul’s cityscape slowly fade away. For once, Hwan didn’t feel compelled to fill their silence--  content to keep his thoughts to himself.

 

“Need to stop for anything?” he spoke again finally as they grew closer to the ocean. Eunho looked back at him, blinking, as if startled out of a dream.

 

“No, I’m fine.”

 

“You sure?”

 

Eunho nodded, and gave Hwan a reassuring smile.

 

 

“I’m sure.”

 

  
After another twenty minutes, Hwan slowed, parking in the shadow of a tall, white lighthouse. He stepped out of the car and into the soft ocean breeze, pushing his blazer’s sleeves up around his elbows and shoving his hands into his pockets.

 

“This is the place?”

 

Eunho brushed his hair out of his eyes.

 

 

“Yeah.”

 

 

Hwan looked down and kicked his toes against the cracked pavement beneath his feet as they walked around the lighthouse until only the wide expanse of the sea stretched out in front of them. Eunho looked across the horizon, face still, but serene.

As he let the man be alone with his thoughts, Hwan wondered how different things would have been if he hadn’t found that small, grey ledger wedged behind his computer. If Eunho had just remained another faceless customer. Would he still be standing here? Finally making peace with a past that had kept him from moving forward for far too long?

 

Part of him thought so-- _hoped_ so-- but a greater half of him was glad that despite his complaints at the time, Byeon had forced him to go back to Hanul Center. Thankful for Manager Cha’s volunteering program. For Hajoon, Jiho, and Yoojin. Even Detective Kang.

 

Looking back, they’d all helped in their own way.

 

 

“Hwan,” Eunho said finally, turning around. “Thank you.”

 

“For what--? If you mean the ride, it was nothing. I’m happy to--”

 

“No,” Eunho interrupted him. He was smiling.

 

 

 

“ _Thank you_.”

 

 

 

Understanding the weight of his words, Hwan simply nodded in response. He walked forward, and side by side they watched the tide slip back out into the bay-- two small figures underneath the sun shining brightly overhead.

  
  
.

**Author's Note:**

> THANK YOU so much for reading, as always. If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a comment or kudos!!
> 
> Or you can hit me up on twt @chajingjing. I love you all!!<3


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